FINDON SHEEP FAIR RECORD SET IN 1964

Text copyright Valerie Martin 1998

Text first published in the West Sussex Gazette 10^th September 1998.

In 1959 an application was made to the Home Office for permission to hold the Findon Sheep Fair on the second Saturday in September instead of the 14th of the month.   This was granted.

In 1964 I am told that the best year yet was seen at the Great Findon Sheep Fair. There was a fantastic, never to be forgotten, 18,000 ewes and lambs for sale plus 760 rams. The number has often been exaggerated, in one case to an unbelievable 100,000, but the truth is just under 19,000. However, there were no warnings of economic disaster in those days, and the tally beat the previous year’s record of 18,675 animals penned in 1963.

The sheep crammed into pens in 1964 were the crème de la crème of flocks from all over England and Wales. Buyers and sellers had travelled from the South West and as far as the Midlands, Derbyshire and Wales. It was a sight to behold — a sea of fleece for as far as the eye could see. Many animals that had travelled a very long distance arrived soon after daybreak. Seemingly hundreds of heavy lorries turned off the main road into Findon and rumbled up to the Green to commence the logistics of unloading so many sheep.

The shepherds’ tasks were arduous. They shouted instructions and pushed and shoved their beasts. All sheep are escapologists and seemingly bred to be on the lookout for a quick way out. They have an in-built mechanism for desiring to depart from their allotted enclosed area, whether a field or a pen. It was the darting, sharp-eyed collie dogs who did not dilly-dally. They brought order out of chaos on the day, and again and again they separated flock from neighbouring flock.

Prospective buyers looked the sheep over and coarse brown hands prodded the animals. The sheep were all well manicured with their feet clipped and checked for foot rot. But still the knowledgeable buyers leaned over and looked at the beasts’ mouths. These were examined to ensure that they had a good set of teeth to bite and pull the grass. The teeth told their own tale. Sheep get their first pair of permanent incisors at roughly twelve months old. The second pair arrives some twelve months later. A third pair appears after five further months. By the time a sheep is a three-year-old, it has a "full set" with four pairs of front grass biting teeth.

As the entries were at an all time high, the cash turnover for 1964 was considerable for the auctioneers, H. J. Burt & Son of Steyning, who had organised the affair since the end of the nineteenth century.

The following year, the Sheep Fair of 1965 was held in quagmire conditions. The weather did not affect the good attendance of buyers and I can confirm they flocked from all over England to spend the day on Nepcote Green.

The Sheep Fair of 1968 was again dogged by torrential rainy weather which caused Nepcote Green to be churned up before the fair started.  The rain came again during the morning while some 15,250 ewes and lambs were being auctioned.   Many of the large livestock lorries became firmly entrenchbed in the muddy mire.   In the evening, a high heavily laden lorry load of sheep overturned.  Some of the animals were killed and others had to be destroyed.

The number of lambs to be auctioned at the Lamb Sale was down in 1971, and only 400 lambs were offered. It was sadly the last Lamb Sale to be held on the historic site. At the September Sheep Fair there were 9,250 sheep and 350 rams for sale.

There were 10,000 sheep penned at the September Sheep Fair in 1974 when  buyers and sellers travelled to Nepcote Green from all over England and Wales.  The occasion at that time was considered to be one of the best in the country.

Continue if you would like to read about the Sheep Fair 1984.