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

WILLIAM FRANKLAND ARRIVES IN FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2000

The majority of inhabitants of Findon in the twenty-first century have never come across the name of William Frankland and do not know of his historical connection with the village.    

He was a notable Findon landowner of the past and I think he was one of the most intriguing, fascinating and remarkable characters to have carved a slot in Findon history. There will never be another quite like him I can guarantee.   What makes him so interesting? 

William's father was the governor of Fort William in the eighteenth century and the boy was born in Bengal in 1720.

In June 2002, I heard from Brian Wenk who has provided me with this photograph of a painting he owns of William Frankland as a boy.   This is attributed to the German artist, Johann Zoffany —

Here is young William purported to be age 12 ........

By the age of forty years, William was still an unmarried, wealthy, successful East India merchant.   Let us take a light-hearted look at this adventurer. 

He departed from the continent of India in 1760 and undertook a strange mission.    It was a considerably dangerous three year route travelling overland through Mesopotamia (roughly the land between the Rivers Tigris and Euphrates, and the present day Iraq), Syria and Palestine.  

You may not think there was anything particularly notable about this feat in the 1700s but we have to imagine him rather cleverly dressed as an indigenous Tartar messenger to undertake his travels.   Unfortunately, I have no image to show you of him in this disguise — we will have to use our imaginations to visualise his garb.  He proceeded to trek across the Persian Gulf and entered the strange world of the Ottoman Empire.    Why he did all of this I do not know.   Has anyone a fanciful idea on why he should undertake such a journey at this stage in his life?

He procured a Turkish passport — also Persian and Armenian passports and then somehow obtained a certificate from the Armenian Patriarch to acknowledge his being in the Holy Land.  His prolonged trip took in the site of the great and decadent Babylon before venturing on to mystical Baghdad and thethen recently unearthed ruins of the Syrian city of Palmyra.   Could this have been the reason for his venture?

Damascus and the city of Jerusalem came next on his itinerary of sightseeing and at the end of his hazardous journey, he, maybe, a little thankfully boarded a vessel bound for Constantinople and finally England.

This adventurous and somewhat unnecessary long journey in those days, had been undertaken quite alone, in a potentially troublesome part of the globe where his presence could have met with hostility.  It seems William had ample spare time and cash for the expedition — but even then it was no mean feat for a middle-aged gentleman used to every comfort  and the presence of servants back in India.

Nevertheless, a travel worn William arrived in England, still unmarried.   It seems he still had a source of finance at his disposal and began his search for a country residence suitable for retirement.  I do not know where exactly his searches led him but by 1765 his carriage drew up outside of Muntham Court and it appears he alighted and said to himself....

"This is what I've been looking for"

and he decided on Muntham Court with its delightful estate of over 2,000 acres.

The property at Muntham had been built by the 6th Viscount Montague as a hunting box and was enhanced by gracious surrounding plantations and fishponds. William procured the red brick Georgian mansion and estate for £6,300 and settled down to Findon life. The population of the village at this time was approaching around 180. It was an era when a windmill was grinding grain on the opposite hillside and cockfighting matches were still being conducted behind the Gun Inn.

What was life at Muntham like in William's days?  It appears that the estate was extremely well laid out and organised. There were neat poultry houses, dog kennels and, yes, even a piggery. Findon cottagers would have also kept pigs in their gardens at this time.

It is said that even back in the sixteenth century when villagers could obtain pork they would hang up their bacon to show it off.   It was a sign of wealth that a householder could "bring home the bacon".   A little bacon would be sliced off to share with guests and everyone would sit around and "chew the fat".

Even at the beginning of the twentieth century older inhabitants could still recall pigs being allowed to roam the streets. Any household killing a pig would divide the meat with their neighbours, and naturally they expected the deed to be reciprocated in due course. Carefully reared pigs and piglets can, therefore, be imagined wandering at will through the main street of Findon during the time of William's lifetime.

Pork was everyone’s favourite meat and it was the traditional Christmas dish in Sussex.  Hog's puddings, mince pies, and lard cakes were in evidence as the festive season approached.  Perhaps as William was one of the aristocracy and also the landlord, he sat down to tuck into a dish of roast pork, (or it could have been goose), at the "big house" at Muntham on Christmas Days at the end of the eighteenth century.

William's social equals in the district were Squire William Green of the Manor of Findon, a friend of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV;  John Cripps of Sheepcombe in Findon Valley ....and the Goring Family of the Findon Park Estate.

Yeoman farmers worked the surrounding agricultural land. A local tradesman who had additional agricultural interests was William Tate of Nepcote. This was also the time of George Holford the carpenter who instigated the resurrection of the famous Findon Sheep Fair during William's days.

William resided comfortably at Muntham Court for the next thirty-nine years. His name was soon to be celebrated as an eccentric who spent much time and money on some items considered rather peculiar at the time to his contemporaries.   His intention in life appears to have been "to collect and employ every newly-invented machine" and he began to turn the mansion into a contemporary industrial museum.     His inventions were varied and many experimental mechanical devices flowed from his drawing board for the practical application of the science of the day. This was much to the astonishment (and no doubt amusement) of the villagers who went to work for him at the Muntham estate.

Continue if you would like to read more about this Findon Inventor.

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