Findon Village Antiquities www.findonvillage.com

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

The Harris' fairground lit up on Nepcote Green at the Sheep Fair in 1999.

FINDON SHEEP FAIR — 1927

Originally published in Along the Furlong in September 2004.

The Findon Sheep Fair has altered beyond all recognition over the years. In September 1927 on Sheep Fair day, there were 10,000 jostling sheep on Nepcote Green, far more than in recent years. They were packed in fifties, not between metal enclosures, but in neat wattle fences. The shepherds exchanged cheery greetings as they penned their flocks and the barking of shaggy sheep dogs and bleating of innumerable sheep broke the quietude of the Downs. Milling around were watchful farmers from far and wide. There were also cattle and ponies with their manes plaited with straw and bright ribbons for the occasion.

Nepcote Green's surroundings were not so different from today — rounded folds of smooth downland grass from the towering Cissbury Ring in the east to the distant high-perch of the shaw of Church Hill to the west. If one cares to blot out the drone of the A24 traffic and let the trees disguise the sea of roofs, the scene today could easily be 1927 again.

Nepcote Green itself was somewhat different though on that particular Sheep Fair day. There were farm and commercial vehicles of all kinds — fifty or so higgledy-piggledly parked cars and a tangle of bicycles. They were all intermingled with a variety of horse drawn conveyances of all forms and sizes.

The people were different too, all kinds of humanity. The most distinctive were the downland shepherds. These old men (yes, shepherds always appeared to be old) had more likely than not spent the previous night sleeping rough under the hedgerows. Ruddy, weather-beaten faces with side-whiskers or white-bearded, with backs slightly bent, they propped themselves on wattles, their weather-polished metal crooks not leaving their grasp as they watched their charges.

The shepherds wore smocks and usually soft hats with the crowns squashed in. The hats may have started out black, but by now were greenish-grey. Their trousers were more often than not sandy corduroy and uniformly tied under the knees. Some wore loose overall-coats of a dirty yellowish white. One particular shepherd always wore the same heavy coat — this he said —

"kept the cold out in winter and the heat out in summer".

None appeared to be younger than eighty years old and not one of them was over communicative. They lived a lonely, solitary life. When they shook you by the hand, they meant business and were ready to talk.

Sheep on the Findon Gallops in January 2000.

I understand that it was the custom for the farmers who were selling, to treat their shepherds to beer while they waited beside the sheep pens. In addition, it was expected that the head of the firm of auctioneers also provided free drink to the shepherds in charge of the sheep. No more need be said.

Apart from the buying and selling of sheep, villagers from miles around arrived on Nepcote Green to have some fun on Sheep Fair day in 1920s. In the past there had been very rough horseplay but the 1926 the crowd were well mannered, mild and good-humoured. Nevertheless the two patrolling stern faced men in blue surveyed them all day.

Findon Sheep Fair.

Business began briskly and promptly in those days. Ten o'clock sharp, no hanging about. Men hovered around the auctioneer's stool at the edge of the pens. Bidding began. Bang went the book on the palm of the auctioneer's hand and a pen of fat, frightened lambs were destined to be driven over the Findon hills by a new dog. The day was warm and the animals were already tired, penned up so tight.

The bidding recommenced and in about two minutes flat the book went bang again and another fifty dumb creatures were ready for a walk through the countryside to a new home. Soon after that some salesmen received their hansel as it was called (hansel was the first money). Satisfaction could be read on the faces of the farmers as their flocks sold well in 1927.

Rail transport had been arranged two years earlier from Steyning, so some flocks were duly driven over the Downs to the station and were destined for a train journey. It is not always remembered now that Steyning once had a railway station —

c. 1962 — The steam train shown above is travelling on the down line between Steyning and Bramber.

The West Country Class 34050 engine "Royal Observer Corps" in the photograph above stands at the Steyning Station on the 13th June 1965.

This picture was snapped during the "Wealdsman Railtour" organised by members of the Locomotive Club of Great Britain who toured lines in Sussex due to close on 13th June 1965.

The Steyning line was unfortunately scheduled to close on that date but was given extra time and continued in service until March 1966 because (surprise, surprise) of problems with licensing bus services to replace the trains.

1966 — The above is the sad view along the railway tracks towards Steyning Station shortly after the Steyning line was duly closed in March 1966. The rails of down line on the right have already been removed, platforms and station buildings are deserted. Telegraph pole in background, lamp posts on derelict platforms remain as a reminder of Steyning's past history.

Nepcote Green pond in January 2000.

At the 1927 Great Findon Sheep Fair a commanding voice rang out again.

"Will anyone start at sixty shillings?"

Slightly down the slope on the Green, away from the protests of the sheep and the alluring tone and genial ready-tongue of the friendly auctioneer with his apt jests, lay the disused, grass-grown dew pond. This is often now referred to as a drain for water running off the downs from Cissbury Ring. It was, in fact, shown on old ordnance survey maps as a pond on Nepcote Green, but that fact has long been forgotten and disputed.

True Romany way of life was becoming rare. The gypsy caravans were present though, complete with the usual clutter of apparatus of coconut shies and other such contrived games of skill and chance. They stood waiting to reveal a future life of mystery and romance to the unwary — once their palms had been crossed with silver.

At 2 p.m. the bell sounded and a lull fell on the scene. Workers and fun-makers sauntered around or stood by the long rows of sheep, meditatively pondering the merits of the ewes and rams with critical, calculating eyes. Sometimes they prodded and pinched the helpless sheep, going from pen to pen. The hot sheep stood waiting patiently to be taken back to the Downs where they could crop the sweet turf. An assortment of sheepdogs were tied at intervals to various tent pegs, hurdles and wheels. The jangling music accompanying the wooden horses at the show-ground mingled and competed with the voices of the men, dogs and sheep.

Bags of ginger-nut biscuits appeared as if from nowhere and were the staple diet offered to satisfy hunger raised by the downland air. Other bystanders fancied the readily available inviting slabs of cold plum-heavy.

The auctioning of hardy downland flocks had been occurring twice each year for centuries in this corner of Nepcote. The earlier Lamb Fair had already been held in that year and, in fact, did not cease until 1972.

January 2000 — Nepcote Green with the Wattle House and Cissbury Ring in the background.

The institution of the sheep auction was well established as proved by the very necessity of the ancient Wattle House standing under the row of waving beeches along the southern side of the Green. Some windows in The Wattle House were open as this was inhabited by two families in 1927.

The property had its foundations laid at the beginning of the 1800s by the family of George Holford. It was specially designed for the storage of wattles and to house some of the growing Holford family in the cottage accommodation on either side. It was solidly built of flints from the Findon hillside; set off with red brick corners and chimneys of brick. By the mid-twenties the property had already claimed a respectable middle age. It did not occur to anyone in 1927 that the council in the mid-fifties would condemn it as uninhabitable and it would remain a bleak, empty feature of Nepcote Green for many decades to come.

Continue if you would like to read Mr. Dudeney the Findon Shepherd

Back to Great Findon Sheep Fair Index

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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.

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com