FAIRFORD, a small town, a parish, and a sub-district in Cirencester district, Gloucester. The town stands on the river Colne, at the foot of the Cotswolds, near the boundary with Wilts and Berks, 4¼ miles WNW of Lech-lade, and 8½ E by S of Cirencester r. station; is neatly and regularly built; has a post office‡ under Swindon, a chief inn, cloth mills, two bridges, a church, three dissenting chapels, a lunatic asylum, a reading room and library, a charity for apprentices with £69, other charities with £254, and fairs on 14 May and 12 Nov.; and is a seat of petty sessions. The church was built in 1423, and following years, by the family of Tame; is a fine specimen of perpendicular English; has large windows of painted glass, inferior only to those of King's College chapel, Cambridge; and contains a table-tomb of John Tame, and brasses of other Tames. An Independent chapel, in the Gothic style, was built in 1863. The lunatic asylum was formerly a public institution, but has been converted into a private establishment. The parish comprises 3, 879 acres. Real property, £8, 262; of which £60 are in gas-works. Pop., 1, 654. Houses, 361. The property is not much divided. The manor belonged to Earl Bithric; was held by the Crown at Domesday; passed to the Clares, the Beauchamps, the Nevilles, the Tames, and others; and came to the Barkers. The ancient manor-house stood near the church, but was demolished by Andrew. Barker, Esq.; and the present one stands a few furlongs farther north, was built with the materials of the old, and is a spacions edifice. Roman coins and urns were found in the cuttings for its foundations; and several barrows occur on the neighbouring lands. Fairford gives the title of Viscount to the Marquis of Downshire. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol. Value, £432. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Gloucester.—The sub-district contains twelve parishes, -one of them in Wilts. Acres, 26, 198. Pop., 6, 148. Houses, 1, 338.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))