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The train crossing the main Worthing Road (A24) at The Triangle, Findon in 1931. |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
The Train Takes The Strain
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The train crossing the main Worthing Road (A24) at The Triangle, Findon in 1931. |
Copyright Valerie Martin 1998
Text first published in Along the Furlong, May 1998.
I have uncovered that during the mid-nineteenth century, the name of Findon was at risk of being given to a railway station. Until this time, long-distance journeys had been made by coach. What a sight it must have been to see a coach pulled by horses thundering into The Square after a bumpy ride over the Downs. The coach would come to a halt at the
Gun Inn; there would be a change of horses and much to unload. The romantic scene was not to last, and the nostalgic coach service had dwindled by 1846 and was withdrawn.The coastal railway line from Brighton to Worthing opened in that year, and finally brought an end to the London to Worthing coaches which clattered through The Square. After 1846, the Findon inhabitants were forced to resort to their own horse transport, the friendly local carrier’s cart, or Shanks’ pony. Horse-drawn carts and panniered mules were still a familiar sight as they plied the stony trackways over the rolling downs.
Following the demise of the old coaching days, there was a plan to lay a railway line through the heart of the Findon valley. The London to Worthing Direct Railway Company was created to further the scheme. The matter even progressed so far as the making of a local survey of the proposed route. The name Findon at this point very nearly became that of a railway station on a branch line. The Victorian Findon landowners regarded the scheme with disfavour, and did not give it their blessing. The idea eventually failed dismally.
If this plan had come to fruition, the proposed line of the track would have severed St. John the Baptist Church from the village, and the congregation would have been forced to cross a railway line to attend services. Road building eventually did isolate the church when the bypass was completed in 1939. It seems that the church was destined to be cut off from the villagers.
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1996 — The hamlet of Nepcote from Cissbury Ring. Church Hill is the backcloth. |
Not many are aware that a train track, (albeit a small one), was laid in Findon. In the balmy days of spring and summer in 1931, extensive road widening was proceeding near the now long gone Triangle area.
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An old coach and cars pass the road improvements in progress at the sharp corner of the Triangle in 1931. The house in the background is The Towers. |
The Triangle had been a well-known landmark in Findon for years. It was so called because of the clump of trees in the shape of a triangle that divided the ways at the Nepcote Corner. It presented a sharp bend on the main Worthing to Horsham road, and in the thirties it was proposed to put the wheels of progress into action and commence the process of rounding off the area. A stout flint wall about a metre high encompassed the Triangle itself. In the centre flourished trees and sturdy holly bushes. This was an era when Findon had its own constabulary and the Triangle had long been used as a rendezvous for the local bobby, Bert Warder, and his superior. When Bert was on night duty, it was at this appointed place that he met his sergeant who it is assumed came from Worthing, to exchange notes and receive fresh instructions. Bert lived in the High Street and the arrangement was that they always met around midnight — Bert’s police duties in the village permitting, of course.
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Aerial photograph taken in 1988 showing the site of The Triangle. |
A small locomotive was utilised to haul the loaded waggons of excavated earth on small gauge rails across the main Worthing to Horsham road. The 1930s road traffic was often delayed, and had to give-way to the train. The train shunted and chugged and the construction work continued as the lorries and cars patiently queued. Eventually, the offending corner of the Triangle was rounded off, and the workmen and train finally departed.
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The above map shows the old long gone Triangle (bottom right hand corner) on the A24 at Nepcote.
The landmark of the Triangle was to finally disappear completely within a few years under the major construction work on the new arterial road to be the Findon bypass which started in 1936. It was another of Findon’s many features to vanish forever in the name of progress, and to be remembered by only a few.
Here is the Conveyance Order from 1937 —
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12th November 2002.
Dear Valerie,
.........the Findon by-pass was started at the Black Horse in 1937-38, and all concrete was mixed by hand there, and transported in skips on rails, to the area being worked. It was mainly Irish navvies, that did the work. The grader driver was Russian, and worked for 18hrs a day, 7 days a week. It is believed it was built directly for the County Council.
[Memories from my father in law,who worked
on the by-pass 1938]
John Linfield, Horsham, West Sussex.
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Continue if you would like to see the Convent History in Pictures.
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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