Text first published in the West Sussex Gazette in January 1998

Revised and published in the Findon Valley and Village Directory in December 2007

Text copyright Valerie Martin, 2007

Here is a little story from 171 years ago in Findon.  The year 1836 did not begin well in the village. On the 1st February a battering hailstorm started with ice pelting against the windowpanes of the old cottages in Nepcote and the High Street like pebbles. The village was soon deserted. Hail stones rattled down the chimney-stacks, bounced on the hearths and faggots, and danced around the kitchens. They appeared for the entire world like white snowballs and measured some three inches in circumference.

Findon Place, the Manor of Findon at this time, was privileged to have a hothouse in the grounds and this did not escape the wrath of the flying missiles. Here a multitude of panes of glass were cracked and many were completely smashed under the deluge of crystals bombarding the building.

In the spring of 1836, Findon was hit by an extremely hard frost at night and all the ponds were completely frozen over, which was remarkable for the time of year. This was followed by cruel winds on May Day, which ruined the village festivities. The poor school children ventured out as planned. They were beautifully decked with their May garlands but were taken by the gusts, beaten, and blown to smithereens.   The children’s celebrations were quite ruined.

On 29th November 1836, a fierce hurricane occurred, worse than any inhabitant could remember. A total of one hundred and fifty mature trees were uprooted and deposited on their sides at the Muntham Estate. A local carter on his wagon drove into the teeth of the wind and was completely blown over three times on the highway. A large horse drawn van was also turned over on its way to Worthing.

The cheerless autumn deepened to an even bleaker December; this was cold and wet. The days were dark and short. There were odd intervals of frost, when the grass glistened and the cottages in the village were steeped in the silver of a weak December sun.

On Christmas Eve, the villagers looked out and saw snow falling. A mysterious fuzziness had silently crept up and engulfed the Findon downland. Blasts of wind swept up the valley driving the snowflakes in hurrying multitudes. The snowstorm raged with unabated violence, filling the old buildings with rumblings and grumblings. It was a tremendous snowfall, which practically submerged Findon.

By Christmas morning the snow was so deep in Worthing that the coach could not depart for its journey northwards.  The very severity of the snow may be imagined by its depth which was reputed in places to be between 15 ft. and 20 ft.

A coach was also due to travel down from London to Worthing and this eventually started and made gallant progress as far as the top of Washington Bostal. It was numbingly cold under a greying sky.    The horses struggled to near the lodge at Highden but here the carriage stuck fast in a deepening drift. The petulant bitter wind blew in the faces of the steeds as the driver with his cape flapping and awry, alighted. The coachman was James Mitchell and he battled to unharness his greys with the intention of taking them to safety.

Man and beasts stumbled in the snow to the warmth and shelter of North End Farm House. The abandoned coach was firmly stuck in the drift and appeared frozen for perpetuity. It was, in fact, snowbound for eight days before it could be rescued and continue its journey to the coast.

In the meantime, all of the Findon roads remained impassable.

This was followed by food running short and, in turn, the housewives bitterly complained and the children cried. The farmers in the neighbourhood banded together and sent forth their men. With the help of the villagers, with any tools they possessed, a carriageway was chiselled from the six-foot deep road blockage. One hundred men were employed on the Great Snow Project and their efforts eventually cleared the residue of the great blizzard of 1836, and Findon was on the map once again.

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