Findon Village Antiquities www.findonvillage.com

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these Findon Chronicles were created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K. Everyday stories about real people.

TOBY AND THE BARROW LOAD

Pre 1913 — Flint faced Elder Cottages in Nepcote on the left. The pair of cottages (reputed to be some 260 years old), was built with a central front door which seems to indicate that it was at one time one property. Early in the 20th century the cottages were owned by a Major Lyall. At this time they were sold with much land for the princely sum of £1,500. George J. Johnson bought the property in 2000 and says a building date of 1737 has been found on a worn stone block which appears as though it once had a crown or emblem above.

Originally published in Findon News in October 1999.

Ernie (Toby) Long was born on 20th November 1943 and as a baby moved to live in Nepcote with his grandparents. They lived in Elder Cottages, a pair of semi-detached houses with great views towards Church Hill, especially at sunset. Toby recalls that some of his school friends in the early days were Alan Pelling, Robin Woods, Eric Whittington, Tony Carter, Edward Spooner, Roger Turner, Valerie Ockenden, Helen Budd, John Collier, Ann Lidbetter, Roy Hogan and Sue Mustchin. Names still remembered in Findon.

When his grandmother died, Toby was nine years old and he moved to the opposite side of the road to where is now a most attractive group of properties consisting of two terraces. Toby lived at 2 York Terrace, close to the evangelical chapel.

One of his childhood tasks was to collect off-cuts of wood from the Ockenden's timber yard just a few yards up the lane in Nepcote. These were priced at one shilling per wheelbarrow load and excellent for kindling.

Ockenden's Woodyard in Nepcote in August 1968. (Original photograph by John Pelling).

The definition of Ockenden's " wheelbarrow load" was taken to be as much as one could pack on a wheelbarrow and push. Now Toby was a bright lad and knew what he was about. He would first arrange his "greedy" boards at each side of the wheelbarrow. As soon as he arrived at the woodyard he piled up the wood so high that he could not see over it. If Frank, Mick or Cyril Ockenden were around they would chuckle saying to the young lad —

"You won't move that one Toby".

With a shove and an immense heave, the young boy would take a couple of tottering steps and the barrow slowly tipped over in slow motion, clattering its contents to the ground. He smartly retorted to the men —

"I've moved it — that's my one barrow load".

He would then proceed to spend the rest of Saturday morning taking the wood home in three or four easy trips and chopping it up in the shed at the bottom of the garden. From the age of six or seven years old, he used a woodman's axe and wedges to split any logs down to a usable size — and is still living to tell the tale today.

c. 1930 — Ockenden's Woodyard in Nepcote.

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This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

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