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Faringdon is a picturesque market town in the Vale of White Horse, near the Thames Valley in southern England, United Kingdom. It is located between the River Thames and the Ridgeway.
On February 2, 2004, Faringdon was granted Fairtrade Town status. The town was twinned with Le Mêle-sur-Sarthe (France), in 1990.
History
The name Faringdon means fern covered hill. The Anglo-Saxon kings of Wessex and later England had a palace located in Faringdon. However, claims that King Edward the Elder died there are misguided.
In the Domesday book, Faringdon is recorded as a manor and a mill. The town was given a royal charter by King John in 1216. The weekly market is still held today. He also established an abbey in Faringdon, but it quickly moved to Beaulieu in Hampshire.
During the English Civil War, Sir Robert Pye was kept prisoner in his own home: the Faringdon House. The smaller current house was built in around 1730. The spire of All Saints' church was partly destroyed by a cannon-ball that went astray.
The Town Hall dates from the 17th century. It remains the centre of the town and its focal point.
Faringdon Folly
Close to the East side of town is Faringdon Folly, situated atop Folly Hill (also known as Faringdon Hill), a Greensand outcrop (at grid reference SU 298957). In common with Badbury Hill, close-by to the West, it has an ancient ditched defensive ring (hill fort). This was fortified by supporters of Matilda, during her campaign to claim the throne from King Stephen. It was soon razed to the ground by Stephen. Oliver Cromwell fortified it in his unsuccessful campaign to deal with the Royalist garrison that was based on Faringdon House. The Pye family had Scots Pines planted around the summit, around the time that Faringdon House was rebuilt. This creates a conspicuous and recognisable landmark that can be seen from afar, including from the Vale of White Horse, the White Horse Hills, the Berkshire Downs, near Lockinge and the Cotswold Hills, to the North. The folly itself was built by Lord Berners in 1935. It is 100 feet high and affords panoramic views of the Vale of White Horse. During the Second World War, it was used by the Home Guard as an observation post. In 1982, it was restored by Robert Heber-Percy and handed over to the town, in Trust.
Railway
A 3.5 mile branch line was opened in 1864, between Faringdon and the Great Western Railway (GWR) at Uffington, with construction funded by the Faringdon Railway Company (purchased outright by the GWR in 1886). Passenger traffic peaked in 1913, but later declined to such extent that the passenger service was withdrawn in 1951. Freight traffic continued to use the line until the Beeching cuts of 1964. The station building is still extant, having been used for various commercial purposes (currently a nursery school).
External links
"Faringdon"