I have found that the Holford family of Findon built the Wattle House and it was finished before 1803. It was specifically designed for the storage of wattles for the Great Findon Sheep Fair and replaced an earlier store on the Green. The Wattle House was initially designed with a tenanted cottage at each end, which may have originally been to house members of the Holford family.

One of these was John Holford who it is known was the owner and occupier of the Wattle House in 1839.

Different families have occupied the historic accommodation over the years and many people are now completely unaware of the property's original usage.

An amazing number of thirteen persons were all eating, drinking and sleeping crammed above the wattle storage in 1851. At No. 1, (on the west side of the building), lived the curate of Findon, a 34 year old Cheshire man, William Garnett and his wife Sarah, and two small sons, Willliam aged one, and baby Alfred of six months. A live-in nursemaid, Maria Smith, cared for the children. Two further servants were employed in the household and these were the Moulton sisters. Ann was cook for the curate's family and, Sarah, employed as housemaid. They were all living on three floors (one of the floors was removed in later years to make room for more wattle storage as the occasion arose).

No. 2 residence was occupied in 1851 by an agricultural labourer, Charles Knowles and his wife, Anne, who worked as a charwoman. Their son, also named Charles, was 15 years old and a farmer's boy. Emily, their daughter, was 12. Two step-children from an earlier marriage lived with them — Thomas Greenfield was only 12 and already out working as a farmer's boy, and his little seven-year-old sister.

Mrs. Knowles appears to have enjoyed living on Nepcote Green because she was still there thirty years on when she was a widow — and taking in three farm labourers as lodgers.

The members of these two households over the centuries must have been stacked in their beds as close as sardines. It was hardly commodious accommodation above the wattles.

The celebrated Wattle House was home to families for some one hundred and fifty years as well as giving a unique function as a wattle storehouse for the Great Findon Sheep Fair. Alas, in 1956 the building was condemned as uninhabitable. The remaining tenants were moved out and housed on the Findon council estate. The Parish Council was served with a Notice by the Worthing Rural District Council designating the accommodation no longer suitable habitation.

The old historic building stood boarded up on Nepcote Green for half a century. Inside it remained dark and dirty, full of grime and utterly disreputable, with broken floorboards, dislodged steps and broken partitions. It then became the centre of attention with talk of renovation, coupled with an access road and car parking being provided. After fifty years, consideration was being given to making the structure habitable once more.

The peaceful rural scene was threatened when the house was given a Grade II listing and the Wattle House Trust was formed. The community of Findon was presented with a complex ballot paper on the following soul searching and thought provoking options —

Do you wish the Wattle House Trust to continue with its objectives to convert the building for community use?

If you believe the Wattle House should be converted for community use, should a car park be provided?

Do you wish Findon Parish Council to dispose of the Wattle House?

Do you wish Findon Parish Council to close the Wattle House in a secure manner (cocoon)?

The old Wattle House was playing a part in Findon as never before and the votes divided the villagers.

Continue if you would like to read about the 50-50 Chance.