A little mis-leading I suppose, I was not waiting for the church service, I was waiting for my car to be serviced so I had an hour to wander around the town.
The building suffered much during the Civil War at the Second Siege of Faringdon House (1646). The Royalist commander, Col. Rawdon, stationed marksmen up the tower, which drew heavy fire with the Parliamentary army attempting to topple the spire into the the Royalist lines. This forced Rawdon to blow it up so that it would fall the other way. The south transept also collapsed due to cannon damage. This was only restored in 1853. The spire has never been rebuilt.
