UNEARTHING THE PAST WITH MARK HOBDEN — 2000

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000

Published in Along the Furlong in January 2001

On the 7th July 2000 I heard from Mark Hobden for the first time.   He had stumbled across my website and was interested in the information I had collated about Findon. 

Mark is a 36-year-old keen metal detectorist who lives on the Sussex coast and has always been fascinated by the history of local villages and towns.  When he contacted me he was wondering if there were any Findon landowners who would be willing to let him search on their land for coins, artefacts and even hidden treasure trove lying undiscovered.

I gave him all the information I knew and pointed him in the direction of David Akehurst, the manager of Tolmare Farm on the Long Furlong Road, A280.

Ten days later I heard from Mark again.  He had not been idle but had spoken to the farm manager who had agreed that he could search the agricultural land.  The drawback was that most of the farm was down to crops.  A bull with a glint in its eye was wandering around the pasture fields and Mark did not fancy trying his hand at being a matador.  Working in the grazing fields appeared to be out of the question at that time.  The good news was that the crops were due to be harvested in two or three weeks' time.  It was now a matter of being patient.

On the 12th September I heard from Mark once more.  He had commenced his metal detecting in the field to the north of St. John the Baptist Church, known as North Park, the site of the original village of Findon.   An air survey, carried out I understand in the 1970s, revealed nothing of consequence.  

There are many theories for the migration of the village to its present location.  These range from plague, to the Lord of the Manor banishing the community from his doorstep because he did not like the proximity and the smell coming from the hovels. 

North Park was particularly difficult for Mark to check as it had been cut to stubble.  Undaunted, he thoroughly investigated the area on a couple of occasions and the weather was good.  Unfortunately, he only discovered a few shoe buckles, a thimble, (which was not as old as he first hoped, as it was aluminium), a few old nails and a handful of musket balls — perhaps the latter confirm the presence of infantry in the area as described in "The Lost Feather Bed".  He added that there was a large amount of pottery around and also quite a few oyster shells which denoted habitation. 

He was merrily searching away in the field in the blazing heat when a movement suddenly caught his eye.  He heard the sound of a labouring engine and, although he had permission to be there, it was with some trepidation that he saw a white van bumping across the rough ground in the dazzling sun and heading straight for him. 

He had been concentrating so hard on what he was doing in digging up the past, that for a split second he thought they were thirteenth century muggers come to loot him of all his worldly possessions. He could not see who was inside but when the vehicle pulled up alongside him, he inwardly groaned, as what he thought looked like three dubious looking characters clambered out.  Mark was not one to succumb to intimidation and so stood his ground, spade at the ready and detector on full stun ready to do battle.  The silence was broken by.....

"Find anything decent mate?"

It appears that his shady looking visitors were nighthawkers, the kind of guys who give the hobby of metal detecting a bad name.  They must have spied him in the field and thought it might be a good area for a chat in readiness for a future illicit raid.  They quite openly offered to give Mark a lift to show him some of the locations they had illegally searched in the past.   He politely declined their overtures.  Eventually, the van and its cheery occupants trundled off across the bumpy stumble and Mark continued with his labours.

He is now waiting for the site of the old village to be ploughed and once this is done there is a chance that further "finds" can be unearthed from Findon's medieval past.

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