Then came the "modern" shepherd with the advent of the Second World War. He wore the rural agricultural labourer’s corduroys, casually tied at the knee with string; a loose-hanging nondescript waistcoat (on warm days, even undone) and an indeterminate coat.

Shepherds were invariably old characters — lame, crippled with the stiffness of rheumatism and only holding themselves upright with the help of a crook or a stout ash cane. Perhaps it is little wonder after being out in all unkind weathers. The Findon shepherds were a stout-hearted breed as they were out all year round on the Downs. Then the war brought a final end to it all.  

A FINDON CONNECTION WITH HIDDEN LOCAL BYWAYS OF YESTERDAY.... Having partaken of breakfast one Saturday in July 2010 at the site of the old inn "The Tabby Cat" (now re-named "The Orchard"...... I came across the location of the West Grinstead railway station (closed in the 1960s thanks to the meddling of the infamous Dr. Beeching).  

I often wonder why The Tabby Cat was so called..... did a cat with silvery stripes once sit in the window of the old inn years ago?       This brings me to a question that you will be asking.....Why did I go looking for the elusive Tabby Cat?     Reason:  The inn was the venue for Findon's Sheep Fair during the Second World War.

This is a very ancient photograph of carriages/carts lined up outside The Tabby Cat Inn at West Grinstead.   OS. Reference TQ 1822.    Perhaps it is of c. 1900 vintage or earlier (hence the quality!).   The scene is westwards down the road.     It is known that carriages could be hired from The Tabby Cat in 1887.

The same scene in July 2010

The annual Sheep Fair was an old Findon institution and had been conducted year-in and year-out on Nepcote Green.    The exception was, of course, one autumn when it was moved suddenly to West Grinstead.   The Sheep Fair had been unaffected by the war until 1940 when participants were just pitching the fair on Nepcote Green.  The Regional Commission for the War Office suddenly telegraphed that the venue was too close to the coast.   All operations were halted.  During the dark days of the war, Nepcote Green was considered to be a prime risk for bombing from a German air attack.

What could be done?   Word spread like wildfire around the Harris family's fun fair and to the other stall holders.  Another site was swiftly sought from Alfred Pankhurst, the landlord of "The Tabby Cat" at West Grinstead, for the use of two fields on the western side of his public house. The area was conveniently close to the railway line and station (at that time operational), and there were plenty of quiet meadows for laying up the farmers' flocks before and after the Fair.  

   

The Fairground equipment and wattles being assembled on Nepcote Green were promptly transported to West Grinstead.   Nearly everything went on trailers drawn by traction engines belonging to the Harris family.

As a result of a "ploughing up policy" ordered by the Agricultural Committee, many flocks of sheep were dispersed in 1940.   This resulted in a record entry of 17,000 ewes and lambs and 340 rams during West Grinstead's first year of housing the Findon Sheep Fair.   (It was still named the "Findon" Sheep Fair in spite of the new location). 

West Grinstead boasted a goods yard with a sheep and cattle loading bay and facilities for handling horses from the nearby Crawley and Horsham Hunt Kennels.    Very convenient also for transporting the sheep auctioned over the seven-year period at the so-called "Findon" Sheep Fair on the doorstep of West Grinstead Station.     Oh yes, the station was lit by paraffin lamps in those days, known as "Tilly lamps".

The West Grinstead railway station was opened on 1st July 1861 and this is the earliest photograph I have seen (early 1860s) .... before the footbridge was built.   (Looking south).

This photograph was a bit later.   

The Lamb Fair was the last to go to West Grinstead for the duration of the war, and this was in 1941. One year there was an exception and it was held at Steyning.   In 1941 because of the big dispersal of flocks the previous year, the number to be auctioned at the "Findon" Sheep Fair dropped severely to 7,000.

In 1942 the total of animals penned at the West Grinstead venue rose again to a very presentable 14,000. This was because the downland had been requisitioned for our troops in training for battle and flocks were inevitably sold off.

The War Office may have thought that Nepcote Green was going to be in the line of fire during the duration of the war, but as it was the Green remained safe.  Not so, the new site of the Sheep Fair at West Grinstead though — it is said a German aircraft was to come down on the location.     The railway station also had a very near miss two months after the sheep had been loaded up following the Sheep Fair in 1942.

67 year-old George Henry Ansbridge was a driver for Southern Railway with 27 years service and was on the West Grinstead line.    It was just an ordinary Monday afternoon on 30th November 1942 when suddenly two Focke Wulf 190 Würger fighter planes appeared from the south where they had fired bullets at a school.   Mr. Ansbridge stopped his engine about a hundred yards from the signal box at West Grinstead to dismount and take refuge from the imminent German attack.   

The pilots had spotted the little steam engine travelling on the down-line towards Brighton and mercilessly swooped and gunned the helpless driver down.  His stoker escaped with his life. 

Bullets rained down on West Grinstead Station.   The porter/signalman was in the signal box with the door open at the time and he crouched in the corner trying to take cover.   He had a narrow escape as bullets whizzed passed him.  The booking office clerk also escaped unscathed.   Men working in the Goods Yard at the station saw the black crosses on the body of the fuselage and under the wings as the intruders appeared and they dived for cover under the trucks as the enemy roared overhead firing at everything in sight.

This attack was reported in the press at the time as happening "at a village in the south of England".    During the war years there was a blanket ban imposed on recounting exact locations of bombing to avoid giving away their success of "hits" to the Germans.

As you can see from the sketch, these single-seater, single-radial engine Focke fighters did not look dissimilar to a Spitfire      John Raymond Grantham lived close to the railway line and has recorded that terrible scene in his sketch book.  

To see a Focke Wulf 190 in flight click on the link below and imagine what it must have been like in wartime to see this war machine heading straight towards its target........

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/322874/focke_wulf_190_flies_again/

In 1943, 1944 and 1945 the annual totals nose-dived at the West Grinstead auction as would be expected during the dark years of war, to 9,000, 10,000, and 9,000 respectively.

On the 19th September 1947, the Findon Sheep Fair eventually returned to its birthplace after an exile of seven years and took up its slot as the late summer event on Nepcote Green.  The so-called "Findon" Sheep Fairs had been a huge success at their temporary location at West Grinstead during the war-long exile of seven years. The local farmers did not altogether want the annual events to return to Findon as one of the advantages of West Grinstead was the nearness of the railway station for loading up the sheep after the auctioning.

Footbridge over the line at West Grinstead in 1960s.

Looking south.  West Grinstead's Station Master, Ken Bartlett's family are the only passengers alighting at the station from the 13.30pm. Brighton to Horsham on 30th April 1964.    Two years later, the station was eventually closed as a result of the Beeching Axe on 7th March 1966 and the main station buildings were demolished but I discovered that the old platforms have survived....... 

July 2010 - Ghost Station..... Looking south.  A rather pretty station in its day... made quaint by the banks each side.    I could almost hear a steam train whistle echoing through the leaves of the trees.

What are we up to now?    We've even found an old railway carriage.

Baaaaaa!   Sheep dogs return to the spot.   These are the old cattle sidings at West Grinstead Station ......once the scene of wagons shunting and much bleating and protesting.   It is now over sixty years ago that sheep were auctioned at the so-called "Findon" Sheep Fair at West Grinstead.  This is where the animals were loaded up and transported from during those uncertain war days. 

The Crawley and Horsham Hunt Kennels were first located at Warninglid.... then Staplefield, whence in 1877, the hounds moved to their brand new kennels at West Grinstead.    Here is a very old photograph of the Crawley & Horsham Hunt in West Grinstead village (they also hunted the Findon area).   

I next set out to try and find the Kennels to the north-east of the station.   I did not need further directions because feeding time for the hounds sends a cacophony of eerie baying across the quiet landscape.... the sound abates as suddenly as it starts as they devour their rations.... or perhaps go out.

The Crawley and Horsham Hunt country covers some 23 miles from Rudgwick in the north .... down to Findon.... and to the sea at Worthing:  and about 20 miles from Pulborough in the west to Haywards Heath in the east. 

I managed to get some pictures of the Foxhounds of the Crawley & Horsham Hunt...... this is the pack that frequented the Findon countryside in the past.

With the Crawley and Horsham hunt kennels also close to the station the place saw substantial horse traffic in the past.   Here is a photograph of the hounds in West Grinstead. 

click on my images to enlarge

This one caught sight of us through the thick hedging from her enclosure.... she set up a frightening barking to call the rest of the pack.... but Suzie and Katie told her (from a safe distance) exactly what they thought of fox-hunting as a pastime.

Here are some of the Hunt's delightful puppies I caught on camera playing in their pen.

The pups are having a happy time with a rough and tumble..... one is in the background eating a haunch of something..... perhaps a hind leg of a cow or horse.

I'll give you a few seconds to think about this one.

Answer:   It is a Bug Mansion....... a spider, beetle and bug house at the site of the old West Grinstead Railway Station.

FROM DOUG ATTRETT IN GORING...."Good Morning V.......I've been reading your interesting snippets on West Grinstead. A couple of comments.

The Fw 190 fighter aircraft was manufactured by a German company named Focke-Wulf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf

This is very often confused with Fokker which is a completely different Dutch company, probably most famous for the Dr.1 Triplane used by the 'Red Baron' in WWI.

The nickname 'Würger' means Shrike, more commonly translated as 'Butcher Bird' which is an apt description.

I'm not attempting to defend strafing a school whether deliberate or not. I've heard several first-hand accounts indiscriminate attacks by hit-and-run raiders along the south coast during WWII. Tragic as the death of the engine driver at was, railways & trains are legitimate targets during wartime. The RAF Typhoon squadrons were expert "Trainbusters".

That's a nice photo of the "Steyning Flyer". It safely transported me to school for several years.

Regards  Doug"

FROM GERALD IN LINCOLN....."Hello Valerie....Hit and Run Attacks by Jerry....reading the events about West Grinstead , when the driver, of the train was gunned down, how sad the chap at the age of 67 should lose his life doing a job, he probably loved.

The mention of keeping attacks out of the media, came back to me, when in early August 1942, two German fighters, attacked Fishersgate, bombed our house, and gunned the double decker bus, my aunt and I had just got on.  We lived in St Richards road, then, our lady neighbour and her two year old son was killed. The Debt of Honour lists her as Joyce Gatrell aged 23, killed 4th August 1942,at 16 St Richards road Fishersgate Wife of Corporal Charles Gatrell REME , and daughter of Alfred and Florence Langrish.Portslade.

Crickey ! it still gives me the shivers.............68 years later. Gerald".

FROM GERALD AGAIN...."The Train Station at West Grinstead, took my mind back to 1947 when my Mother was expecting Maggs, and Dad took me to work with him, he was plastering farm buildings at the time and made friends with a game keeper, his wife cared for my brother and I and we fed the farm Chickens Pigs etc...great memories.

Of course we travelled to West Grinstead on the Steyning Flyer as we called it. Gerald"

ANOTHER WEST GRINSTEAD GEM FROM GERALD....."I remember my brother Tony locked himself in the Station Toilet at West Grinstead, and the Porter, had to climb over, and unlease the draw bolt, as the train was in the station waiting to depart to Shoreham, he waddled aged four...to the train with his trousers at half mast, trying to fasten the buttons, when the whistle blew and my Dad, picked Tony up , and pased him to me in the train, and the slam door banged shut behind him, as we pulled out of the Station. Gerald"

Continue if you would like to read The Sheep Fair Returns to Findon After the War

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