THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE FIRST MILLER

Copyright Valerie Martin, 1997

I have uncovered that Findon Windmill did not stay in the hands of the same family for generations as with some establishments. In 1825 it appeared in the newspaper again in search of a new owner. This time "to be sold or let by private contract".

Joseph Bright lived in Findon and he married Elizabeth. They had a son, James who was christened at the village church on 15th January 1792. The Findon Tithe Map of 1839 shows the landowner of the windmill site as being James and he lived at the house and yard on the land. His first wife was Elizabeth Nicholls (born 1801) but she had died on 13th April 1833 aged 32 years. His second wife was Harriet née Robinson (born 1803, from Lowfield Heath, Mitcham in Surrey. It is known that James Bright and his family were friends of the Constable family.

The occupier of the windmill during James Bright time was a youthful miller and maltster with the unusual name of Trayton Cane (christened on 12th February 1815 in Ripe in Sussex).   He resided in one of the Mill Cottages which by now had been built on the adjacent land.  

Trayton married Elizabeth Hersee on 16th June 1842 in nearby Angmering.   The marriage record stated he was "of Findon, miller".   They had two children, the second was born in 1848 in Alfriston after he had left the Findon Windmill. 

The Cane family then emigrated and spent six weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean.   From Hamilton on Lake Ontario they had moved by c.1850/1 travelling by stage coach to Paris in Ontario.      Elizabeth almost certainly had cousins already in the area.  Emigrants leaving England tended not to just leap off the boat into the unknown but rather went to where they had either relatives, or persons from the same area.  It makes sense — if at all possible, to go where others had gone and succeeded. 

At this time I can reveal that only two cottages stood on the barren hilltop. The infilling to create an L-shape took place at a later date. Trayton lived with William Cane, who was born around 1821. It is known he was unemployed in 1841, and was maybe Trayton's brother. The other resident in the household was Harriet Cane, born around 1791, the boys' mother. It is not known if the Cane family resided in the south or west facing cottages.

In 1845 the same James Bright was the landowner of the whole windmill site.  By 1851 he was listed as the retired miller.