All Saints Church
The church presents a slightly odd appearance from a distance with its squat tower. This would riot be nearly so striking if it were not for the absence of a steeple, blown away in fighting during the Civil Wars. The queerly patterned openings instead of bell windows visible from the churchyard at the rear date from this period.

There has been a church here from Saxon times. The nave of the present building is Norman, but there are substantial parts of the church dating from the 13th century and later.

All Saints is described by Pevsner in his 'Buildings of England' series as "one of the richest churches of Berkshire (Faringdon being a relative newcomer to Oxford shire) owing to the spectacular collection of monuments inside, notable among which are those to members of the Pye and Unton families. Except during services, the church is closed, but access can be obtained by inquiring at the Tourist Information Centre in the Market Place.

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Old Town Hall
The first-time visitor to Faringdon is sure to be struck by the old Town Hall, a late 17th century hall built on stone pillars in the Tascan style right in the centre of the town on the Market Place. It was built by public subscription after the Civil Wars and is one of only two town halls from the period in the Vale of White Horse, the other being in Abingdon. Compared to its big brother in Abingdon, Faringdon's town hall is on a charmingly simple and intimate scale. It rnay originally have served as the local court, and is said at one time to have incorporated a jail on the ground floor. In its time it has also been a fire station, library and Red Cross shop. The great increase in motorized traffic after the First World War led to a campaign to demolish the building that had become extremely run down. William Morris' daughter May, still living at Kelmscott, wrote to the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings, which her famous father had founded, urging the protection of the structure. It was conveniently found a use as a war memorial, perhaps the only building to be designated as such, thus rendering it immune from demolition. The town councilors are trustees of the building and had it refurbished three years ago. William Morris fabrics were chosen for the curtains in honor of May Morris.

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Faringdon House
The present house, which dates from the 1780s, is a good deal more modest in scale by all accounts than the Elizabethan house that preceded it, and is of typically English classical design. The old house was considerably closer to the church, and there is now a grand sweeping vista separating the two. Lord Berners, its best known resident, introduced a variety of statues into the grounds in the 20th century. The house is closed to the public, but one of the statues can be viewed from the Radcot road. It symbolically depicts Africa embracing Egypt and was brought from the Great Exhibition of 1851 at Crystal Palace. Most of the other statues have now been locked away for security reasons. Berners died in 1950 and left the house to his companion, Robert Herber-Percy, who added to Berners legacy by building a Gothically inspired swimming pool in the grounds. He passed the house on to the present owner, his granddaughter. Berners' ghost is said still to stalk the grounds.

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Portwell
Situated in the Market Place, this is a water pump that was paid for in the 16th century by the then Lord of the Manor, Sir Henry Unton, for the provision of drinking water for humans, and water for animals on Market Day.

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Buscot Park
The house, an example of the late eighteenth-century taste for Italianate design, was built between 1779 and 1783 by James Darley for Edward Loveden Loveden. One of his descendants, also called Edward Loveden, was a co-founder of the Board of Agriculture (now the Royal Agricultural Society). In the nineteenth century, a wealthy gold trader from Australia, Robert Tertius Campbell, turned it into one of the most highly industrialised farms in England. He spent large amounts of money so doing and died heavily in debt in 1887. The estate was sold to a city financier, Sir Alexander Henderson, for £83,400 of which £68,000 was required to settle Campbell's mortgage and other debts. Henderson, who later became the first Lord Faringdon, devoted much of his time and wealth to buying paintings by artists such as Rembrandt, Murillo, Reynolds and Burne Jones. These paintings, added to substantially by his grandson, the second Lord Faringdon, form the core of the Faringdon Collection that is divided between the house and a property in London. In 1956 the estate was bequeathed to the National Trust, and the contents of the house were subsequently transferred to the Trustees of the Faringdon Collection. The present Lord Faringdon still lives here, administering the house and grounds, and continuing to acquire new works by contemporary artists.

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Coleshill Estate
Coleshill House was a splendid 17th century mansion that unfortunately burnt down in 1952. Nevertheless, substantial outbuildings remain in the pretty village of Coleshill, and the National Trust now administers the estate. The house left its mark in Faringdon as the town began to prosper in the eighteenth century and wealthy merchants built houses imitating its classical style.

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Badbury Clump
Today thickly covered in beech trees, it was the site of an Iron Age defended settlement some 2,500 years ago. The exposed sandy outcrop has been eroded over time and largely levelled early in the 19th century, but the circular earthen rampart and ditch are still visible. They would have enclosed round huts, storage pits for grain and pens for livestock. The site is in the care of the National Trust.

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Great Coxwell Barn
The barn was part of one of Beaulieu Abbey's dependent granges or farms. Built at the beginning of the 14th century, it is internally perhaps the finest in England. It is built of stone and roofed with stone slates measuring 61 meters long, 17.5 meters wide and 19 meters high, respectful dimensions for any country church. It was much admired by Williams Morris who lived at Kelmscott and who called it ---asbeautiful as a cathedral' and "the finest piece of architecture in England". As a barn within the manor of Faringdon, which was centred north of the current town at a site called Wyke, it was one of many agricultural buildings in the area - at least two of the same size were thought to have existed at Wyke itself. The barn is in the care of the National Trust.


Tourist information centre:

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