Text first published in Sussex Life dated April 1999.

Text copyright Valerie Martin, 1999.

Some villages may boast "Queen Elizabeth I slept here", but it is Joan Collins who "slept here" at one of Findon’s historical properties.

I think that the seventeenth and eighteenth century residents of Findon would probably find little familiar in today’s village, but if they looked closely there are twenty-six dwellings called listed buildings which they should recognise.

A listed building is of special architectural or historic merit. There is only one property in Findon that is of Grade I status, meaning that it is a most important building of exceptional interest. This is ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST CHURCH. The existence of a Saxon church on the site is confirmed by a contract dated 1053 for the supplying of timber "for Findon church". This early wooden building was doubtless an unrefined thatched hut.

I have heard that there is a tale of a secret tunnel connecting the church and the one residence worthy of Grade II* listing. This is the imposing FINDON PLACE, formerly the Manor of Findon. Grade II* means it is of particular importance. There has been a house on the site for many centuries, the original property being a hunting lodge. The mid-eighteenth century mansion we see today was built upon earlier stout medieval foundations and lower walls that were constructed from compact chalk blocks quarried from nearby Church Hill.

Continue through Findon and see more of the Listed Buildings.

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