63 
A NEGLECTED VILLAGE. 
ELBORNE possesses so great an attraction for mem- 
bers of the Selborne Society and for others who, 
although not members of the Society, yet are lovers 
1 of Gilbert White, that I fear the neighbouring village 
of Faringdon is not visited so frequently as its importance in 
the history of the naturalist justifies. 
When White speaks of the chalk pit at the north-west end of 
the Hanger in which nautili were frequent, he had no doubt 
had many opportunities of searching in the pit, or conversing 
with the quarrymen as to their various finds therein, in the 
course of his constant journeys to and from Faringdon. 
All White’s printed letters which bear a date were written 
between 1767 and 1787. He was appointed curate at Faringdon 
in 1762, and resigned the curacy on accepting a similar post at 
Selborne in 1784, this being the same year in which the Rev. 
Christopher Taylor was inducted into the vicarage of Selborne. 
The last letter only is dated subsequently to White’s transfer 
to Selborne, and this is probably not a genuine letter. We may 
therefore conclude that all the letters which were printed in the 
book were actually written while he was curate of Faringdon ; 
and yet White is strangely silent regarding the village. It 
apparently possessed but little of White’s esteem. Selborne was 
his pole-star. Faringdon, however, is occasionally mentioned, 
but one can scarcely comprehend his silence in regard to the 
village in which he ministered as curate for no less than twenty- 
two years. 
Faringdon vicarage is picturesque in many respects. The 
cottages are more scattered even than those in Selborne, and 
many of them have thatched roofs. The church appears to be 
but a portion of what it was at one time. It is as though the 
south aisle had been completely removed and the present wall 
with pointed windows built up where were formerly circular 
columns supporting semi-circular Norman arches, as are still to 
be seen on the north side. At the time of my visit the steeple 
was undergoing repair ; otherwise the church appears to be 
well preserved. But the general effect on entering the church 
is not pleasing. There is rude magnificence about the columns, 
the arches, and the huge beams which stretch across and support 
the roof. But the walls have been painted a bluish-pink, and 
the roof is hidden by a ceiling, which is also painted the same 
hideous colour. The chancel has been rebuilt, and is quite out 
of keeping with the rest of the fabric. It is highly decorated 
from top to bottom with stencil patterns, and this meretricious 
ornament draws attention from the really beautiful paintings, 
executed, it is understood, by the rector’s wife, which grace the 
many-patterned marbles of which the reredos is constructed. 
But think of a reredos in so antique a structure ! 
