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.
The town was granted a weekly market in 1218. The weekly market is still held today. King John also established an abbey in Faringdon in 1202, (probably on the site of Portwell House)but it soon moved to Beaulieu in Hampshire. In 1417 the aged Archbishop of Dublin, Thomas Cranley, died in Faringdon while journeying to London.
The Church of England parish church of All Saints may date from the 12th century, and the clerestorey and possibly the west end of the nave survive from this period. A Norman doorway survives, although not in its original position, in the baptistery. The chancel and north transept are 13th century and the west chapel is 14th century. The north chapel is a late mediaeval Perpendicular Gothic addition with 15th-century windows.
All Saints has a central bell tower, which was reduced in height in 1645 after it was damaged by a cannon-ball in the English Civil War. Faringdon was fought over because it commands the road to the Radcot Bridge over the River Thames. The tower now has a ring of eight bells. The three oldest bells were cast in 1708. James Wells of Aldbourne, Wiltshire cast the tenor bell in 1779 and another bell in 1803. The three youngest bells, including the treble, were cast in 1874 by Mears and Stainbank.
The Old Town Hall (formerly the Market Hall) dates from the late 17th or early 18th century. It remains the centre of the town and its focal point.
The £1.6 million three-mile A420 bypass opened in July 1979.
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