Farringdon

FARRINGDON, a parish, in the union of St. Thomas, hundred of East Budleigh, Woodbury and S. divisions of Devon, 6 miles (E.) from Exeter; containing 381 inhabitants. It comprises 1977 acres by measurement: the soil is generally clayey, alternated slightly with red sand and gravel. A few females are employed in making pillow-lace. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £8. 8. 1½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Exeter: the tithes have been commuted for £450, and the glebe comprises 54 acres.

Farringdon

FARRINGDON, a chapelry, in the parish of Iwerne-Courtnay, union of Blandford, hundred of Redlane, Sturminster division of Dorset, 5½ miles (S. S. W.) from Shaftesbury; containing 34 inhabitants. This place, anciently Ferendone, is mentioned in the Inquisitio Gheldi as giving name to a hundred, which was afterwards transferred to Redlane. The chapel is dedicated to St. Mary. There is a medicinal spring in the neighbourhood.

Farringdon, Great (All Saints)

FARRINGDON, GREAT (All Saints), a markettown and parish, and the head of a union, chiefly in the hundred of Farringdon, but partly in that of Shrivenham, county of Berks; comprising the chapelry of Little Coxwell, the tythings of Hospital and Wadley, and the hamlet of Littleworth; and containing 3593 inhabitants, of whom 2864 are in the town, 35 miles (W. N. W.) from Reading, and 68 (W. by N.) from London. Here the Saxon kings had a palace, in which Edward the Elder expired. The town acquired some celebrity during the war between the Empress Matilda and Stephen, from a castle erected by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, who defended it for the empress with distinguished bravery, until want of provisions compelled him to surrender, on which Stephen levelled it with the ground. In 1203, the site was granted by King John, for the erection of an abbey for monks of the Cistercian order, which subsequently became a cell to the monastery of Beaulieu, in Hampshire; and in 1218, a charter for a market was obtained by the abbot of Beaulieu. During the civil commotions in the reign of Charles I., Farringdon House was garrisoned for the king, and a large body of the parliamentary forces sustained a repulse before it a short time prior to the reduction of the city of Oxford: it was one of the last places which surrendered.

The town is small, but neat, well built, paved, and lighted, and abundantly supplied with water from a spring called Port-well: it is pleasantly situated in the fertile vale of White Horse, a little more than two miles from the Isis, at the junction of two great roads. Hops are cultivated in the vicinity to a considerable extent. The Isis (or Thames) furnishes a medium for the conveyance of coal from Gloucestershire and Somerset, and other heavy articles from London; and within five miles of the town is a station on the Great Western railway. The market, which is noted for corn, is on Tuesday; and fairs are held on February 13th and Whit-Tuesday, for horses and cattle; on the next Tuesdays before and after Old Michaelmas, which are statute-fairs; and October 29th, for cattle and pigs, which latter are slaughtered here and sold in large quantities. The markethouse, standing in the centre of the town, is a compact building, inclosed by iron-rails. The local affairs are managed by a bailiff, who, together with the constables, is appointed at the manorial court; and the countymagistrates hold petty-sessions every alternate Tuesday, or as occasion may require, at the town-hall. The powers of the county debt-court of Farringdon, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Farringdon.

The parish comprises about 4500 acres, of which the soil is principally clay, alternated with marl and sand. The living is a vicarage, formerly a prebend in Salisbury cathedral, but now a lay fee in the peculiar jurisdiction of the lord of the manor, valued in the king's books at £14. 1. 3.; net income, £265; patrons, the Trustees of the late Rev. Charles Simeon; impropriator, W. Bennett, Esq. The church is a spacious cruciform edifice, in the earliest style of English architecture, with a plain tower rising from the intersection, formerly surmounted by a spire, which was partly thrown down during the siege of Farringdon House. In the interior are some ancient monuments, especially one to the memory of Sir Henry Unton, K.G., ambassador to France in the reign of Elizabeth, and who challenged the Duke of Guise for speaking disrespectfully of that queen. An additional church has been erected at Littleworth, and at Little Coxwell is a chapel of ease. There is a place of worship for Baptists. The poor law union of Farringdon comprises 31 parishes or places, of which 27 are in the county of Berks, 3 in that of Oxford, and one in that of Gloucester; and contains a population of 15,582. In the immediate vicinity of the town is Farringdon Hill, rising gradually from the vale, and surmounted by a small grove, which is visible as a landmark at a great distance; it commands a fine view of the rich vale, and of parts of the counties of Oxford, Gloucester, and Wilts. Within the parish, about two miles northward, is Radcot Bridge, an ancient structure, near which a battle was fought in the reign of Richard II., between the insurgent barons under the command of the Earl of Derby, afterwards Henry IV., and Robert de Vere, Marquess of Dublin, the king's favourite, who was defeated, and compelled to swim across the Thames in order to effect his escape: in this battle, Sir William Vaughan and Col. Littleton were taken prisoners, with 200 men. Near the town are the remains of a causeway, supposed to be of Roman origin, but with more probability assigned to the Norman baron, Robert D'Oyley, who is believed to have constructed it soon after the Conquest.

Farringdon, Little

FARRINGDON, LITTLE, a chapelry, in the parish of Langford, union of Farringdon, W. division of the hundred of Bampton, county of Oxford, 2 miles (N. E.) from Lechlade; containing 153 inhabitants, and comprising by admeasurement 1060 acres. The tithes have been commuted for £236 payable to the impropriator, and £17 to the vicar; and there is a glebe of one acre.

Farrington, Lancashire.—See Farington.

FARRINGTON, Lancashire.—See Farington.

Farrington-Gurney

FARRINGTON-GURNEY, a chapelry, in the parish of Chewton-Mendip, union of Clutton, hundred of Chewton, E. division of Somerset, 8¼ miles (N. E. by N.) from Wells; containing 605 inhabitants. This place takes the adjunct to its name from the Gournays, its ancient possessors, of whom Sir Thomas de Gournay was concerned in the murder of Edward II. at Berkeley Castle, for which his estates were confiscated. Farrington has since been annexed to the duchy of Cornwall. A coal-mine is wrought. A new chapel, in the Norman style, was consecrated in December 1844: it has accommodation for 350 persons, in low open seats; the fittings up are in imitation of dark oak, with the exception of the pulpit, altar-piece, and font, which are of Bath stone. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Farsley

FARSLEY, a hamlet, in the parish of Calverley, union of Bradford, wapentake of Morley, W. riding of York, 4¼ miles (E. N. E.) from Bradford; containing 2600 inhabitants. The village is situated in the vale below Stanningley, and the inhabitants are chiefly employed in the woollen manufacture. A church dedicated to St. John the Evangelist was erected in 1843, at a cost of £1300, raised by subscription, on a site given by Thomas Thornhill, Esq., lord of the manor, who also contributed £100: it is a neat structure in the early English style, with a tower, and contains 450 sittings, of which 252 are free. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Vicar of Calverley; net income, £150.

Farthinghoe (St. Michael)

FARTHINGHOE (St. Michael), a parish, in the union of Brackley, hundred of King's-Sutton, S. division of the county of Northampton, 3½ miles (N. W. by W.) from Brackley; containing 409 inhabitants. The parish is intersected by the road from Banbury to Brackley, and comprises 1423½ acres, whereof two-thirds are rich pasture, and the remainder arable land, the latter upon limestone, and the pasture on a clayey soil. The surface is undulated, and the higher grounds command very extensive views. The river Ouse takes its rise in the glebe land here. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16; patron, George Rush, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £434, and there are 90 acres of glebe, with a glebe-house, built in 1843. The church is of the 14th century, with a tower of the 15th, and has a good east window with flowing tracery. Capt. Philip Thicknesse, a celebrated tourist and miscellaneous writer, was born here in 1719.

Farthingstone (St. Mary)

FARTHINGSTONE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Daventry, hundred of Fawsley, S. division of the county of Northampton, 3 miles (S. W.) from Weedon-Beck; containing 315 inhabitants. It comprises 1970 acres, whereof 600 are arable, 1100 pasture, and 270 woodland. The soil varies, but is generally of a good quality for wheat, barley, and beans, which are the principal produce; and the scenery is diversified with hills and woods, the prevailing timber being ash, elm, and oak. The village is seated on a ridge running from east to west. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £13. 18. 11½.; net income, about £250; patron, the Bishop of Lincoln: the glebe consists of 197 acres. The church is situated near the centre of the village. On the brow of a hill in the north-eastern extremity of the parish, is an intrenchment with a lofty keep mount, named Castle Dykes, supposed to have been one of the numerous forts erected in Mercia in 913, and to have been destroyed by the Danes under Sweyn in 1013. Upon the declivity of a continuous hill is an area of irregular form, called the Castle-Yard, with trenches on all sides except the south-west; and in a field which has been recently cleared of wood, and brought under tillage, about a furlong south-west of Castle Dykes, the remains of a quadrilateral intrenchment, probably a castra æstiva of the Romans, have been discovered.

Farway (St. Michael)

FARWAY (St. Michale), a parish, in the union of Honiton, hundred of Colyton, Honiton and S. divisions of Devon, 3 miles (S. by E.) from Honiton; containing 376 inhabitants. It comprises 2141 acres, of which 300 are waste land or common. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £15. 6. 8.; patron, the Rev. T. Putt: the tithes have been commuted for £290, and the glebe comprises 21 acres. The church has some piers and other portions in the Norman style. A school was endowed in 1795, by Mrs. Hannah Atkinson, with £7. 10. per annum.

Faugh, with Fenton

FAUGH, with Fenton, a township, in the parish of Hayton, union of Brampton, Eskdale ward, E. division of Cumberland, 8½ miles (E. by S.) from Carlisle; containing 339 inhabitants, of whom 136 are in Faugh. The Newcastle and Carlisle railway passes at a short distance south-eastward of the village of Fenton.

Fauld

FAULD, a township, in the parish of Hanbury, union of Burton-upon-Trent, N. division of the hundred of Offlow and of the county of Stafford, 7¼ miles (S. E. by E.) from Uttoxeter; containing 56 inhabitants. This place is seated on a romantic terrace in Dovedale. Great quantities of white and variegated alabaster are got at a considerable depth below the surface here, for the use of china, earthenware, and Derbyshire-spar manufacturers, who employ it in making moulds; and some of the farmers have cheese-presses made of this beautiful stone. The hamlet is a mile north-east of the village of Hanbury. The tithes have been commuted for £80 payable to the vicar, and £40 to the Bishop of Lichfield.

Faulkbourn (St. Germanus)

FAULKBOURN (St. Germanus), a parish, in the union and hundred of Witham, N. division of Essex, 2 miles (N. W.) from Witham; containing 157 inhabitants. The parish is supposed to have contained a Roman villa, from the remains of a wall constructed partly of Roman bricks, under the foundation of which a silver coin of the Emperor Domitian was discovered. Faulkbourn Hall, the ancient manor-house, is a stately mansion, displaying various styles, with a gateway-tower of early Norman architecture, supposed to have been built in the reign of Stephen. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 13. 4., and in the gift of Jonathan Bullock, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £308, and the glebe comprises 27 acres. The church, finely situated on an eminence within the park, is an ancient edifice with a small spire of wood, and contains several monuments. There are inscriptions on two stones in the chancel to the memory of the Fortescue family: on the north side is a monument to Sir Edward Bullock, with the date 1644; and in the southern part of the chancel is a magnificent monument to John Bullock, Esq., who died in 1740.

Faversham, or Feversham (St. Mary)

FAVERSHAM, or Feversham (St. Mary), a seaport, market-town, and parish, having separate jurisdiction, and the head of a union, locally in the hundred of Faversham, Upper division of the lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 9 miles (W.) from Canterbury, 18 (E. N. E.) from Maidstone, and 47 (E.) from London, on the road to Dovor; containing 4621 inhabitants, of whom 4040 are in the town. This place is of great antiquity, having been inhabited by the Britons prior to the Roman invasion. It was held in royal demesne in 811, and is called in a charter granted by Kenulf, King of Mercia, "The king's little town of Febresham;" in 930, Athelstan held a council here, "to enact laws, and devise methods for their future observance." It is returned in Domesday book as being held by William the Conqueror, by the name of Favreshant; and that king is said to have given the advowson to the abbey of St. Augustine, Canterbury, and the manor to one of his favourite Normans as a reward for services. In 1147, a celebrated abbey for twelve Cluniac monks was founded here by Stephen, who, with Matilda, his consort, and his eldest son, Eustace, Earl of Boulogne, was interred within the walls, as were several other persons of renown. The town, also, obtained peculiar liberties and numerous charters from various kings. Selden states that the endowments and privileges granted to the abbey by Stephen were confirmed by successive sovereigns, and that the abbots sat in thirteen several parliaments, in the reigns of Edward I. and II., but that, on account of their reduced state and poverty, they ceased to do so after the eighteenth year of the latter monarch's reign. It appears that an acrimonious feeling existed for a considerable time between the monks and the people of Faversham, who endured with reluctance the imposts and exactions of the former. Among these grievances were claims, by way of composition, for allowing the inhabitants to send their swine to pannage, for exposing their wares to sale in the market, for the liberty of brewing, &c.; in which state matters continued till the time of Henry VIII., when the monastery shared the fate of the other religious houses. At that period its clear revenue was estimated at £286. 12. 6¾., but the full annual value, according to a record published by Jacob, was £355. 15. 2. In 1539, the year after its surrender, the chief parts of the monastery were destroyed, and the site was granted to Sir Thomas Cheney, lord warden of the cinque-ports, together with some adjoining lands. The two entrance gates were remaining about 80 years ago, but, being in a ruinous state, they were taken down, and there is nothing now except some portions of the outer walls. James II. having been seized at Shellness Point, on his first attempt to quit the kingdom, after the landing of the Prince of Orange, in 1688, was detained at Faversham, and subsequently escaped from Rochester.

Arms.

The town is situated on a branch of the river Swale, called East Swale, in which is an excellent roadstead for shipping; and consists principally of four streets. Towards the end of the last century it underwent some very material improvements, among which were the opening of a spacious avenue from the London road into Preston-street, and the erection of a bridge over the stream at the bottom of West-street, in 1773. The town is remarkably neat and clean, well lighted and paved under an act obtained in 1789, and has many wealthy and respectable inhabitants; some of the houses are large and handsome, and there are an assemblyroom and a public subscription library. It has long been distinguished for its manufacture of gunpowder, which is said to have been established here prior to the reign of Elizabeth, and was in the hands of privileged individuals till 1760, when government constructed buildings with due regard to additional security. Nevertheless, in 1767, a store containing 25 barrels of gunpowder blew up, and considerably damaged the town; and a much more disastrous occurrence took place on the 17th of April, 1781, through the explosion of 7000lb. of gunpowder, by which the corning-mill and dustinghouse were blown to atoms, the workmen killed, and the buildings in Faversham and Davington either wholly or partially unroofed, and otherwise greatly damaged; so tremendous was the report that it was heard at the distance of 20 miles. Government granted pecuniary aid for the suffering inhabitants, and an act was passed for the greater safety of gunpowder-works, one of the provisions of which was the removal of the stores into the marsh, a considerable distance below the town. During the late war, the quantity of powder annually manufactured here was from 12,000 to 13,000 barrels, affording employment to nearly 400 persons. Since the peace of 1815, the crown has disposed of the works near the town, but retained those more distant; the former have become the property of a private manufacturer, who conducts the business on a considerable scale, employing about 100 persons regularly, and occasionally many supernumeraries.

Faversham is a place of considerable traffic. More than 40,000 quarters of corn, besides a considerable quantity of hops, fruit, wool, and other articles of merchandise, are sent to London: there is a manufactory for Roman cement; and ship-building is carried on to some extent. The port, in the reign of Elizabeth, had 18 vessels, of from 5 to 45 tons' burthen. The quay mentioned by Leland, under the appellation of Thorn, has long been in disuse; but three new quays, or wharfs, have been constructed close to the town. The navigation of the river has been much improved of late; vessels of 100 tons can generally come up to the wharf with the tide, and the channel will now admit ships drawing eight feet of water to sail up at spring tides. The number of vessels of above 50 tons' burthen belonging to the port, is 42, and their aggregate tonnage 3769. The management and support of the navigation are vested in the corporation. The oyster-fishery has been very considerable, and formerly constituted a prominent source of trade, but it has much declined. The company of free fishermen and free dredgermen of the hundred of Faversham, as tenants of the lord of the manor, are under his jurisdiction and protection; and he appoints a steward, who holds two courts annually, called Admiralty or Water Courts, at which all regulations for the benefit of the fishery are made. The markets are on Wednesday and Saturday; and there is a fair on Michaelmas-day.

Corporation Seal.
Obverse.
Reverse.

From an early period the town has been a member of the port of Dovor, one of the cinque-ports, and this connexion may account for many of the privileges it has obtained. The oldest charter now extant is that of the 36th of Henry III., in which the freemen are styled "Barons:" charters of confirmation, with extended privileges, were given by subsequent monarchs; and that under which the town was governed previously to the passing of the act of the 5th and 6th of William IV., cap. 76, was granted in the 37th of Henry VIII., and confirmed in the 1st of Edward VI. The control is now vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors; the mayor and late mayor are justices of the peace, and the number of other magistrates is six. A company of mercers, established by a by-law of the corporation in 1616, has been abolished. A court of session is held quarterly, at which all offenders, except for high treason, are tried by the recorder: petty-sessions are held weekly. The powers of the county debt-court of Faversham, established in 1847, extend over the registration-district of Faversham. The guildhall was erected in 1574, and enlarged in 1814; the upper part is appropriated to the holding of the courts, and the lower to the use of the market. The gaol was built in 1812.

The parish comprises 2269 acres. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £26. 17. 6.; net income, not including poor rates, £342; patrons and appropriators, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. The church was founded prior to the Conquest. The present edifice is a spacious cruciform structure of flint, partly in the decorated and partly in the later English style, with a light tower at the west end, crowned with pinnacles, and surmounted by an octagonal spire; the interior of the west end was rebuilt in 1755, at an expense of about £2500, and the tower and spire are of still more recent erection. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, and Wesleyans. The grammar school was founded in the 18th of Henry VIII., by Dr. Cole, a native of Kent, and warden of All Souls' College, Oxford, who bequeathed to the convent of Faversham certain lands in the neighbourhood, for a school; at the Dissolution the property became vested in the crown, and continued so until the 18th of Elizabeth, when a charter was obtained for refounding the school by the corporation: the annual produce of the endowment is £176. A national school, established in 1814, is endowed with £55. 16. a year; and the twelfth part of the rent of a farm, let for £450 per annum, bequeathed by the Dowager Lady Capel, is also paid for the instruction of children. The town has several other excellent charities, including an estate of about £600 per annum, left by Henry Hatch for the repairs of the creek, the highways within a mile of the town, and for ornamenting the church. Almshouses for six widows were founded in 1614, and endowed by Thomas Mansfield; and in 1823, Henry Wreight erected six more. Thomas Napleton, in 1721, founded and endowed almshouses for six men; and there are some other almshouses and benefactions. The poor law union of Faversham comprises 25 parishes or places, containing 15,915 inhabitants. Dr. John Wilson, gentleman of the chapel-royal in the reigns of Charles I. and II., and musical professor in the university of Oxford, was born here in 1595; and the town is also the birthplace of Dr. Marsh, Bishop of Peterborough, who died in 1839. Faversham gives the title of Baron to the family of Duncombe.

Favinley, or Fairnley

FAVINLEY, or Fairnley, a township, in the parish of Hartburn, union of Rothbury, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 13 miles (W. by N.) from Morpeth; containing 12 inhabitants. Farneylaw, or "the Ferny Hill," is a part of the Wallington estate, in connexion with which mention of it occurs so early as the beginning of the reign of Edward I. The family of Farnylau, or Fernelau, are noticed in the records as proprietors here in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Fawcet-Forest

FAWCET-FOREST, a township, partly in the parish of Orton, East ward, but chiefly in that of Kendal, union and ward of Kendal, county of Westmorland, 7 miles (N. N. E.) from Kendal; containing 83 inhabitants. This wild and extensive district was anciently called Fauside, and belonged to Byland Abbey, Yorkshire. It is near the road between the towns of Kendal and Penrith; and Hucks, the half-way house between Kendal and Shap, is in the district. The principal part of Fawcet-Forest now belongs to the Hon. Mrs. Howard, of Elford, near Lichfield, who is owner of the manor.

Fawdington

FAWDINGTON, a township, in the parish of Cundall, wapentake of Birdforth, N. riding of York, 5¾ miles (N. E. by N.) from Boroughbridge; containing 40 inhabitants. The township is situated on the northeast bank of the river Swale, and comprises by computation 330 acres of land.

Fawdon

FAWDON, a township, in the parish of Gosforth, union and W. division of Castle ward, S. division of Northumberland, 4 miles (N. N. W.) from Newcastleupon-Tyne; containing 544 inhabitants. This place gave name to a resident family, of whom was Robert de Fawdon, high sheriff of Northumberland in 1307. It comprises about 515 acres, and is divided into High and Low Fawdon, of which the former contains the chief part of the population, but both owe their rise to the establishment of extensive collieries: in 1801 the number of persons in the township was only 26. The tithes have been commuted for £51. 9. 2. payable to the Bishop, a like sum to the Dean and Chapter, of Carlisle, and £7. 10. to the vicar of Newcastle. In sinking a pit here, a mineralised tree was found.

Fawdon, with Clinch and Hartside

FAWDON, with Clinch and Hartside, a township, in the parish of Ingram, union of Glendale, N. division of Coquetdale ward and of Northumberland, 9¾ miles (S. by E.) from Wooler; containing 54 inhabitants. It is situated south of the river Breamish, and about a mile east-south-east of Ingram; the hamlet of Clinch is about a mile east of that village, and Hartside, an uncultivated moor, lies at the foot of Cheviot, to the north-west of Ingram, about midway between the Scottish border and the road from Morpeth to Wooler. The tithes of Fawdon have been commuted for £37. 5.; those of Clinch for £31. 2. 8., and the tithes of Hartside for £29. 13. 8.: there is a glebe of 18 acres.

Fawkham, or Facombe (St. Mary)

FAWKHAM, or Facombe (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Dartford, hundred of Axton, Dartford, and Wilmington, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 6 miles (S. E. by S.) from Dartford; containing 277 inhabitants. It comprises 1195 acres, of which 287 are in wood. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £6. 9. 4½., and in the patronage of Philip Pusey, Esq., and the Misses Randall: the tithes have been commuted for £264. 10., and the glebe comprises 1½ acre. The church is principally in the early English style; near it are the ruins, covered with ivy, of a chapel supposed to have belonged to the manorhouse.

Fawler

FAWLER, a hamlet, in the parish of Charlbury, union of Chipping-Norton, hundred of Banbury, county of Oxford, 4¾ miles (N. by E.) from the town of Witney; containing 123 inhabitants.

Fawley (St. Mary)

FAWLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Henley, hundred of Desborough, county of Buckingham, 3 miles (N. by W.) from Henley; containing 280 inhabitants. Fawley Court was garrisoned by the king's troops in 1642, when many valuable manuscripts and books, the property of its celebrated owner, Sir Bulstrode Whitlock, were destroyed. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11. 10. 10., and in the gift of the family of Freeman: the tithes have been commuted for £472. 10., and the glebe contains 24 acres, with a house. The church was repaired and fitted up in 1748, at the expense of John Freeman, Esq.; the altar, font, pulpit, and pews, belonged to the chapel at Canons, the seat of the Duke of Chandos.

Fawley

FAWLEY, a township, in the parish of Dilwyn, union of Weobley, hundred of Stretford, county of Hereford; containing 142 inhabitants.

Fawley

FAWLEY, a chapelry, in the parish of Fownhope, hundred of Greytree, union and county of Hereford, 8 miles (N. by W.) from Ross; containing 57 inhabitants. The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

Fawley (All Saints)

FAWLEY (All Saints), a parish, in the union of New-Forest, partly in the hundred of Redbridge, but chiefly in that of Bishop's-Waltham, Southampton and S. divisions of the county of Southampton, 7 miles (S. S. E.) from Southampton; containing, with the chapelries of Exbury and Hythe, 1972 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the east by the Southampton Water, and comprises 6100 acres, of which 2972 are arable, 1003 pasture, 500 wood, and 1625 heath and waste. Cadland Park, a little northward from the village, is one of the most beautiful residences in the county; and the village itself, one of the largest in the Forest, has a rural and picturesque appearance. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £34. 13. 6½., and in the gift of the Bishop of Winchester: the tithes have been commuted for £1044, and the glebe consists of 16 acres, with a house. At the west door of the church is a fine Norman arch, and in the windows are some curious specimens of painted glass. At Exbury is a chapel of ease, and at Hythe a district chapel. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Fawley, North and South (St. Mary)

FAWLEY, NORTH and SOUTH (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Wantage, hundred of Kintbury-Eagle, county of Berks, 5½ miles (S.) from Wantage; containing, with the liberty of Whatcombe, 225 inhabitants, and comprising 211 acres. The living is a vicarage not in charge; patron, Bartholomew Wroughton, Esq. Here is a small school.

Fawns

FAWNS, a township, in the parish of Kirk-Whelpington, union of Bellingham, N. E. division of Tindale ward, S. division of Northumberland, 13¼ miles (W.) from Morpeth; containing 8 inhabitants. This place was anciently called Le Fawings, and mention occurs of the family of Fawnes in the reign of Henry III. In 1421, the township is enumerated among the lands held by Sir Gilbert de Umfraville, who died in that year: of subsequent owners, may be named the families of Tempest and Swinburne; and there was a small peelhouse or tower here in 1542, which was long held by the Fenwicks. The tithes have been commuted for £3. 6. 8. The Britons had a camp here, which was strengthened and perfected by the Romans.

Fawsley (St. Mary)

FAWSLEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Daventry, hundred of Fawsley, S. division of the county of Northampton, 4 miles (S. by W.) from Daventry, on the road to Banbury; containing 48 inhabitants. This place, which lies in the western portion of the county, bordering upon Warwickshire, has since the time of Henry V. been in the possession of the Knightley family. It comprises 1854a. 1r. 4p., of which 1700 are pasture of luxuriant richness; the soil is a red loam: the surface is varied, and the scenery is embellished with stately timber, of which the prevailing kinds are oak, ash, and elm. The extensive mansion of Fawsley Park, the residence of Sir Charles Knightley, Bart., is situated on a gently elevated lawn, commanding a rich expanse of wood and fertile pasturage, enlivened by three fine sheets of water. A market held on Thursday has been for a long time discontinued. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £7. 9. 7.; net income, £100; patron and impropriator, Sir C. Knightley. The church is an ancient edifice, shaded by venerable trees, and contains several monuments to the Knightleys. Dr. John Wilkins, a learned prelate, and a philosopher and mathematician, was born here in 1614.