FARRINGDON (GREAT), a parish comprising
the market-town of Farringdon, the Chapelry of Little
Coxwell, and the tything of Hospital, in the hundred of
FARRINGDON, and the tything of Wadley, or Littlewbrth
with Thrupp, in the hundred of SHRIVENHAM, county
of BERKS, and containing 2784 inhabitants, of which
number, 2271 are in the town of Farringdon, 35 miles
(W.N.W.) from Reading, and 68 (W. by N.) from London.
Here the Saxon kings had a palace, in which
Edward the Elder expired. The town acquired some
celebrity during the war between the Empress Maud
and Stephen, from a castle erected by Robert, Earl
of Gloucester, which he defended for the empress with
distinguished bravery, until want of provisions compelled
him to surrender, on which Stephen levelled it
with the ground. In 1203, the site was granted by
King John, for the erection of an abbey for monks
of the Cistercian order, which subsequently became d
cell to the monastery of Beaulieu, in Hampshire; and
in 1218, a charter for a market was obtained by the
abbot of Beaulieu. During the civilcommotions in the
reign of Charles I., Farringdon house was garrisoned for
the king, and a large body of the parliamentary forces
sustained a repulse before it a short time prior to the reduction
of Oxford. It was one of the last places which
surrendered, and it is worthy of remark, that Sir Robert
Pye, the proprietor of the house and manor at that
period, held a commission under the commonwealth,
and commanded the assailants. The property -afterwards
reverted to him, and was retained by his descendants
till 1788, when Henry James Pye, Esq., who was poetlaureate
during a great part of the reign of George III.,
disposed of the mansion, which he had then recently
erected, and of the estate, to William Hallet, Esq., sometime
member for the county. Farringdon is a small
town, but neat, well built, and paved, lighted with oil,
and abundantly supplied with water from a noted spring
called Port-well. It is pleasantly situated in the fertile
vale of White Horse, a little more than two miles from
the Isis, at the junction of two great roads, the constant
travelling along which is a source of great advantage to
the town. There is no prevailing branch of manufacture;
hops are cultivated in the vicinity to a considerable
extent. The navigation of the Thames, or Isis,
which flows within two miles of the town, furbishes a
medium for the conveyance of coal from the mines of
Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, and of other heavy
articles from London. Themarket, which is noted for
corn, is on Tuesday; fairs are held February 13th, and
on Whit-Tuesday, for horses and cattle; on the next
Tuesdays before and after .Old Michaelmas, which are
statute fairs; and October 29th, for cattle and pigs,
which latter are slaughtered here, and sold in large
quantities. The market-house, standing in the centre
of the town, is a compact building enclosed by iron
rails; the upper part is used for the town-hall, in which
all public business is transacted. The local affairs of
the town are managed by a bailiff, who, together with
the constables, is appointed at the manorial court;
and the county magistrates hold petty sessions for
the division every alternate Tuesday, or as occasion
may require, at the town-hall. The living is a vicarage;
it was formerly a prebend in Salisbury Cathedral, but
is now a lay fee in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage
of the Lord of the Manor, rated in the king's books
at £14. 1. 3. The church, dedicated to All Saints,
is a spacious cruciform edifice in the earliest style
of English architecture: a plain square tower rises
from the intersection, and was formerly surmounted
by a spire, which was partly thrown down during
the siege of Farringdon house; the lower part only
is remaining, and rises but little above the roof of the
church. In the interior are some ancient monuments,
especially one to the memory of Sir Henry Unton, K. G.,
ambassador to France in the reign of Elizabeth, and
who challenged the Duke of Guise for speaking disrespectfully
of that queen. At Little Coxwell, in this parish,
is a chapel of ease. There is a place of worship for
Baptists. The National school, which was erected in
1825, at a short distance from the town, on the road to
Wantage, is a neat stone building; it was intended to
accommodate two hundred boys, and is supported chiefly
by voluntary contributions. There is likewise a school
for female infants, conducted on the Lancasterian system;
and various benefactions have been made for the
purpose of apprenticing poor boys. In the immediate
vicinity of the town is Farringdon hill, rising gradually
from the vale, and surmounted by a small grove, which
is visible as a land-mark at a great distance; it commands
a fine view of the rich vale, and of parts of the
counties of Oxford, Gloucester, and Wilts. Within the
parish, about two miles northward, is Radcot bridge, an
ancient structure, near which a battle was fought in the
reign of Richard II., between the insurgent barons and
Robert de Vere, Marquis of Dublin, the king's favourite,
who was defeated, and compelled to swim across the
Thames in order to effect his escape. Near the town
are the remains of an ancient causeway, supposed by
some writers to be of Roman origin, but by others, and
with more probability, assigned to the Norman baron,
Robert DOyley, who is believed to have constructed it
soon after the Conquest.