Great Faringdon, Berkshire

Description
Faringdon or Great Faringdon (formerly Chipping Faringdon), a market and a union town and parish in Great Faringdon parish, Berks. It stands adjacent to Faringdon Hill, in the White Horse Vale, at the terminus of a short branch of the G.W.R., 2 1/2 miles S of the river Thames, and 17 SW from Oxford. It was anciently called Feardune or Fearndun, and it was a seat of the West Saxon kings, and the death-place of Edward the Elder. An ancient castle stood at it, and was razed by Stephen. A Cistercian priory, subordinate to Beaulieu Abbey, was founded on the site of the castle in 1202 by King John, gave entertainment for a night to Henry III. and his queen, was given at the dissolution to the Seymours and the Englefields, and has entirely disappeared. Faringdon House, near the church, was built by Henry James Pye, the poet-laureate, and is now the seat of the Bennett family. An ancient mansion on the same site belonged to Sir Robert Pye, the son-in-law of Hampden, was garrisoned for Charles I. during the Civil War, and put under the command of Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, sustained two attacks by the Parliamentarians, one of them headed by Cromwell in person, and, was one of the last places to surrender. Faringdon Hill commands a brilliant view of the White Horse Vale, and of parts of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, and Wilts, is crowned by a grove of Scotch pines, which serves as a landmark for a great extent of surrounding country, and forms the subject of Pye's exaggerated poem of " Faringdon Hill." The town is small, but cleanly, well-built, and pleasant; it has a head post office, a station on the G.W.R., a banking office, a town-hall, a corn exchange, and a workhouse. It is a seat of petty sessions, and publishes a weekly newspaper. The corn exchange is an ornamental edifice of 1864. The church is ancient, large, and cruciform; shows characters from Early English to Decorated in its chancel, and characters of Late Perpendicular in its Pye chapel; has a stunted, Late Norman tower, the spire of which was destroyed in the Civil War; and contains, among other interesting memorials, tombs of Sir Marmaduke Rawdon, Sir Alexander Unton and his lady, and Sir Edward Unton. There are also Baptist, Congregational, Primitive Methodist, and Wesleyan chapels, and a Friends' meeting-house. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and a great cattle market on the first Tuesday of every month. There are also statute fairs on the Tuesday before and the Tuesday after Old Michaelmas Day. The industries include iron founding, brick and tile making, and brewing. The parish includes, in addition to the town of Great Faringdon, the township and chapelry of Little Coxwell, and the ecclesiastical parish of Littleworth, with the hamlets of Thrupp and Wadley, which will be found noticed under COXWELL, LITTLE, and LITTLEWORTH. Acreage of Great Faringdon, 5866 of land and 31 of water; population, 3133. Acreage of Little Coxwell, 887 ; population, 251. Population of the ecclesiastical parish of Great Faringdon, with Little Coxwell, 2988. The living of Great Faringdon is a vicarage, united with the perpetual curacy of Little Coxwell, in the diocese of Oxford; value, £230. Patrons, Simeon's Trustees. The living of Littleworth is a separate benefice.