This website created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE MUSKETT GUNNE

Copyright Valerie Martin 1999.

Was the community of Findon always sited at its present location?  This is a question that many argue about.  I firmly believe that the village of Findon migrated from its earlier position near the church, to its present site at an unknown date —  most probably late mediaeval times. I think that a new settlement of a few houses very gradually grew up around the Square and one of these was the property on the site of the Gun Inn.

I like to think that Findon’s situation on the important east-west route through the county would have made it less isolated than many other villages by the 1600s.  Because of its downland situation, Findon’s communications with neighbouring communities were relatively good. In bygone days (before improved road-making and drainage techniques) our chalk ridges of the downs provided the driest surfaces and were the most logical choice for travelling by horse and coach in all seasons and weather.

Findon was a district in the 1600s that many paupers, travellers and men of the road (tramps) continually passed through. There was perhaps a population of nearly 200 in the village by this time, which was an agricultural community where the inhabitants grew such crops as barley, wheat, oats, peas, tares, hemp and grass.  I think that practically every household in Findon owned some sheep, making the district rife with petty sheep stealing.  These flocks ranged in number from a mere three belonging to poorer households, up to 160.   Cattle also provided the inhabitants with meat, milk and dairy products, and hides, while they also acted as draught animals on the Findon soil. 

Our village appears to have been little affected by national events during this period, although Thomas Leicester of the inn (described as the Muskett Gunne in those days), did discover that he was to need a proper licence to operate in the village centre.  Up until 1617 the law had not required such establishments as the Muskett Gunne to have a licence.   It is probable that the inn had been actually operating and providing traditional fare for travellers for many years prior to this date.

How the Muskett Gunne came to have its name is rather a mystery and the answer has evaded me.   Was there a previous name for the property perhaps?   It is now most likely too long ago for me to find the answer.

I believe that Thomas Leicester was probably a country gunsmith by trade and operated the inn as a sideline, possibly with the assistance of his wife and family.  It was most likely during their tenure in the early 1600s that the Open Hall area at the inn was floored over and thus provided substantial additional living accommodation for the occupants.  

Who enforced the licensing of the Muskett Gunne?   An intriguing story now unfolds.  

The name of a certain young 32-year-old enterprising legislator of the day was Sir Giles Mompesson.   He was destined to go down over the centuries as being inextricably linked with the history of Findon.    He started life by becoming a well-known and respected Member of Parliament of the day.  As well as being a courtier of the first Stuart King of England, James I, he was also considerably well connected and related by marriage to George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, who was King James’ influential follower. He was classed in his day as a "good fellow". This may have played a part in his career prospects at court and assisted his continuing ascent in important government and society circles — at least that is until his plans were thwarted.   I would go as far as to describe this gentleman as a somewhat questionable and shady character in spite of his good connections at court.

It was in 1616, when the by now dubious Sir Giles voiced his idea of introducing a system to bring a special commission into existence. Inns all over the country were his targets. Everyone listened to his proposals that would result in innkeepers being granted "licences" enabling him to extract fees and an annual rent from them. James I duly granted him a patent. No one appreciated that the enterprising Giles had his eyes on a generous slice for himself.

This is how it came about that the well-known established Muskett Gunne in the very centre of the village of Findon was very soon to need a licence to operate. In the spring of 1617, Sir Giles’ mandate came to fruition and he sprang into action. In March he appointed two trusted agents and their objective was to collect the due fees and rent from unsuspecting landlords. His two assistants (and the retinue they would have in turn employed) traversed the countryside enforcing the new law (often with crooked methods) and collecting the revenue before returning to their master.

The fee levied for a licence was five pounds. This was subsequently followed by a further smaller annual charge of ten shillings to be made in two supposedly easy instalments. The cost of staying at our rural inns rocketed as a result when charges were naturally increased in a frantic scramble to combat the extra cost incurred by the licence.

News spread by word of mouth across the countryside of the impending licences but it was not until the autumn of 1619 that Sir Giles’ men eventually arrived in the sleepy backwater of the Findon locality. No doubt they rode purposefully into the quiet neighbourhood on 22nd October, headed straight for the Muskett Gunne, and demanded to see the unfortunate owner, Thomas Leicester. Whether any extra encouragement to pay up was needed on the day we will now never know but they achieved their goal as an archive ledger of the day confirms the payment —

It was a worrying time — the inn was rocked to its very foundations. How was the proprietor going to recoup his losses? Poor old Thomas may not have been the first innkeeper of the premises but this important entry made him go down in history the first known named owner of the inn, then described as the Muskett Gunne.

Thomas was undoubtedly a somewhat gullible and law-abiding, character. When Mompesson's hired hands had finished roaming the countryside and returned to demand their further dues, he dutifully paid his follow-up amounts of ten shillings for the year 1620. This he remitted in the two required portions of five shillings each on the requested dates.   These were Lady Day, 25th March, and Michaelmas, 29th September.

By February 1621, a government investigation was well under way concerning Sir Giles’ notorious antics in collecting the revenue for the now becoming despised licences. This was after numerous indignant complaints had been brought to the attention of the authorities.   Sir Giles had irritated many it appears and some had become angry.   It is reputed that the issue was finally brought to a head when threats had been made to Justices of the Peace.  In the meantime, many rather dodgy "new" establishments had sprung up all around the countryside and opened as reputable so-called "inns". They had suddenly been "licensed", thus taking years of patronage away from the older, once thriving, establishments — such as the Muskett Gunne.

It is said that the devious Sir Giles received his well-deserved deserts and was finally charged on 26th March 1621. Unfortunately for the law, he had already received a tip off through his accomplices and had foreseen his downfall.   He avoided being caught by hastily packing his belongings and sailing the channel to France. His men would not be riding into the Square in Findon and troubling Thomas Leicester of the Muskett Gunne again.

On 30th March, the government finally abolished his patent for licensing. The Muskett Gunne proprietor sank back, breathed a sigh of relief, and no longer required a Mompesson "licence".  It then became standard for inns to merely obtain an "alehouse licence", which covered them for the retail of ale and beer on their premises. The Muskett Gun slipped back into its familiar old routine in the sleepy backwater of Findon..

Continue if you would like to read more about The 1600s at the Gun Inn.