In the late Anglo-Saxon era Little Faringdon was part of a large estate that included Faringdon (formally Great Faringdon), from which it took its name. The manor was one of several in the area granted to the CistercianBeaulieu Abbey as part of its Faringdon estate by a charter of 1203 or 1204.[2] Beaulieu held its estates until it had to surrender them to the Crown in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. The manor was then held by the Bourchier and Perrott families. In about 1860 it was sold to Charles Ponsonby, 2nd Baron de Mauley, whose descendants hold it today.[3] Until the 20th century Little Faringdon was an estate village. In 1910 the lord of the manor owned almost all the houses.[4]
The parish church is Norman, built in the 12th century as a dependent chapelry of Langford.[6] It has Norman lancet windows in the chancel.[7] In about 1200 the church was enlarged with the addition of a north aisle.[7] The arcade between the nave and north aisle is in a transitional style between Norman and Early English Gothic.[8] In the 14th century the porch and south door were added.[9] A south aisle seems to have been added at about the same time but has since been lost.[9] In about 1500 two Perpendicular Gothicclerestory windows were added to south side of the nave. The west window of the nave is also a late Medieval Perpendicular Gothic addition.[9]
