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Farringdon (Great) in Berks County England History and GeographyFARRINGDON (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 Littleworth 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 a 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 civil commotions 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, furnishes a medium for the conveyance of coal from the mines of Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, and of other heavy articles from London. The market, 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 D'Oyley, who is believed to have constructed it soon after the Conquest. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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