A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



parts of the arcade the upper member of the abacus 

 is of square section, but in plan the earlier abaci are 

 rectangular and the latter circular. The arches in 

 the eastern bays, being of square section, do not fit 

 the rounded abaci, and their angles at the springing 

 are cut away, as they would otherwise project beyond 

 the line of the abaci. This feature generally implies 

 that the wall over the arcades is older than the arcades, 

 and such must be the case here. The nave must 

 have had a north-west chapel, probably contemporary 

 with a westward lengthening of the original nave, and a 

 north aisle was afterwards added to the east of the 

 ch.ipel. A similar chapel, but of later date, occurs 

 at Newton Valence. 



It is to be noted that in neither respond of this 

 arcade do the joints of the wall-quoins range with 

 those of the half-round shafts, but this does not 

 necessarily imply a difference in date. The north 

 aisle is narrow, and had about midway in its wall a 

 small blocked doorway with a square inner head and 

 flattened outer arch, which may have been semi- 

 circular at first. Its date is doubtful. There are no 

 windows in this wall, which is buried to two-thirds of 

 its height by the accumulation of soil on the north, 

 but in the east wall is a window of two lights with 

 modern wooden tracery, while the masonry of its 

 inner jambs is of the twelfth century, though possibly 

 not in situ. 



In the south wall of the nave is a doorway between 

 two three-light windows, which have cinquefoiled 

 lights and an early form of rectilinear tracery, c.l 370, 

 a quatrefoil between two trefoiled lights. The south 

 porch is of plastered brickwork and stone rubble, 

 much overgrown with ivy, and over its outer arch is 

 a tablet with the date of its building, 1634. 



The west tower is for the most part of the first 

 half of the thirteenth century, having in the ground 

 stage narrow and widely splayed lancets on the north, 

 south, and west. There is no tower arch, but a 

 doorway with a plain pointed head opens from the 

 church, the door being towards the tower. The 

 upper stage of the tower has been rebuilt or repaired, 

 and has small quatrefoil openings, not earlier than the 

 fourteenth century and probably later. It is covered with 

 plaster externally and finished at the top with a short 

 wooden spire, in the base of which the bells are hung. 



All the wooden fittings of the church are modern, 

 including stalls in the chancel and a screen across the 

 chancel arch. The chancel roof is also modern, but 

 at the east end of the nave on either side is a length 

 of moulded wall-plate and above it an arched brace, 

 which seem to be of the fifteenth century, and are 

 perhaps the remains of a ceiling over the rood. The 

 rest of the nave has a flat plaster ceiling at the plate 

 level, the rough beams which carry the ceiling joists 

 showing below the plaster. The font has a large 

 cylindrical tapering bowl, standing on a low pedestal 

 in the form of four hollow-fluted capitals of late 

 twelfth-century date ; the base is square. 



There are no traces of ritual arrangements, except 

 the remains of a holy-water stone in the east inner 

 jamb of the south doorway of the nave. 



There are four bells, with the following inscrip- 

 tions : Treble, 'Henry Knight made mee 1666'; 



2nd, ' Henri Knight made mee 1622 ' ; 3rd, 1627 ; 

 and Tenor, 'Henri Knight made mee 1615 

 IH . . . ' 



The church plate consists of a plain silver chalice, 

 the cover forming a paten, a pewter plate, and one 

 much worn plated cruet. 



The parish registers begin in 1558. The first 

 book contains mixed entries from that date to 1653 ; 

 the second from 1653 to 1710 : the third from 171010 

 1773 ; the fourth from 1773 to 1802, and thefifthfrom 

 1802 to 1812. The third book is the most interest- 

 ing, since Gilbert White the naturalist was curate of 

 Faringdon from 1760 to 1785, and his writing first 

 occurs among the baptisms for 1 760 and his last signa- 

 ture among those for 1785. 



From its earliest existence at 



ADVOWSON some date between the Domesday 

 Survey and the taxation return of 

 1291 " the church of Faringdon was held by the 

 bishop of Exeter, 46 and followed the descent of 

 Faringdon manor (q.v.) until 1797." At the present 

 day it is held by the rector of Faringdon, Thomas 

 Hackett Massey. 



In 1385 the bishop of Winchester directed a com- 

 mission to the chancellor of Exeter bidding him 

 absolve William Burgeys from the penalty of the 

 greater excommunication incurred by administering 

 the Sacrament to a parishioner of Faringdon with- 

 out leave of the rector. 48 



In 1397 licence for non-residence was given to the 

 rector of Faringdon in order that he might be in 

 attendance on the bishop of Exeter. 49 Frequently 

 the bishop held ordinations in Faringdon church. 

 Thus in 1316 Walter de Stapledon bishop of Exeter 

 ordained several subdeacons in Faringdon parish 

 church, and among them a monk of Hyde, 60 and 

 again in 1318 ordained Peter de Noreis de Edyndone, 

 who on the same day had letters dimissory for the 

 diaconate and priesthood." 



(i) Alice Fylder, by deed 

 CHARITIES 37 Elizabeth, charged a certain 

 tenement in Stedhams and lands in 

 Iping, Sussex, with a yearly rent-charge of 40^., to be 

 applied in moieties for benefit of this parish and 

 Binsted. The several properties were sold without 

 notice of the charge, and the payments have ceased 

 since 1801." 



(ii) Poor's Lands. In 1640 a parcel of arable 

 containing an acre, and a parcel of wood ground 

 adjoining called ' Post ' containing an acre abutting 

 on the highway and the common wood, were vested 

 in the rector, churchwardens, and overseers, by whom 

 the premises were demised to one John Applegarth 

 for 1,000 years at the rent of i6/. 



The annual sum of l6/. was received and applied 

 in bread up to Michaelmas 1800, when Thomas 

 Fielder, in whom the interest in the term of years 

 was then vested, refused to continue the payment. 63 



(iii) Poor's Money. A sum of 10 given for the 

 poor by an unknown donor was in or about the year 

 1819 in the hands of a Mr. William Eames on the 

 security of a promissory note given to the overseers 

 and churchwardens. No payment is now made in 

 respect of this charity. 44 



Pope Nich. Tax. (Rec. Com.), 210. 

 48 Winton. Efis. Reg. Wykcham (Hants 

 Rec. Soc.), i, 6, 203, 210, 226, 366. 

 *1 Inst. Bks. (P.R.O.), Ser. D. 



<8 Winton Efis. Reg. Wykeham, ii, 365. 

 <9 Ibid. 476. 



40 Ibid. John de Sendale, 174)1. 

 "Ibid. 2ii*. 



22 



63 CAariy Com. Rep. xii, 530. 

 58 Ibid. 

 Ibid. 



