Sound the flute!
Now it’s mute!
Bird’s delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,—
Merrily,
Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year…
William Blake Songs of Innocence 1789
Farnham was a Saxon village and probably began in the 6th century AD. It is situated
on a magnesium limestone ridge - to the west and south-west are low lying lands,
which were called 'mires' or 'carrs'.
The history of the village is, in part, tied
to the history of the town of Knaresborough - some 2 miles to the south. The Saxon
period ended with the conquest of England by the Normans in 1066 - the great Norman
survey, known as the Domesday Book, has reference to Farnham and confirms that in
1080 there was a Saxon church there.
William the Conqueror rewarded his knights by
granting them 'Manors' - great areas of land to control - one such 'Manor' was centred
on Knaresborough and was known as the 'Honour' or 'Lordship of Knaresborough'. Farnham
was one of the villages in the Honour, in an area known as The Liberty.
The church
in Farnham has always been an important feature - first the Saxon church, referred
to above, replaced by a Norman church, built c 1100 AD and later additions over the
centuries. Partly to celebrate the millennium, there has been extensive work done
in 2000/2001 to conserve and improve the building.
Farnham is a beautiful village
- much admired - with a strong community spirit - and it is the hope of the inhabitants
that it will remain so for another fifteen hundred years
