|
Muntham Court in the days of William Frankland. |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
THE MUNTHAM WINDMILL
Copyright Valerie Martin 2001
|
Muntham Court in the days of William Frankland. |
William Frankland greatly enlarged Findon's Muntham Court during his ownership of the mansion. By 1789 it had grown to be an imposing structure of eleven bays and two storeys and a suitable country seat for any well to do gentleman.
Firstly and foremost William was a landowner and farmer, and his great collection of advanced agricultural implements was said at the time to be second to none. He designed and owned a plough with which one man could plough, harrow and sow simultaneously. This was something unheard of in Findon at the time. As a sheep farmer, it is known that eight hundred of William's sheep were sheared during the period 1793-5.
Rather amusingly, in the 1790s the consumption of beer, together with ale and mead, formed a quite considerable hole in William's domestic housekeeping purse. In addition to that brewed on his estate, many hogsheads were supplied to the mansion throughout each year. This was testified by the records of Mr. Satchell, Mr. Graveley and by a Steyning innkeeper, Mr Stoveld. In 1794, two of William's employees, Dick and Thorp, missed out on the generous distribution of some agreeable free beer at Muntham Court. This was because it is recorded that they were absent without permission and were attending ..... yes, a cricket match of all things.
William's coachman was John Gardener and there were five coach horses stabled at the Muntham yard . Their names have come down to us as 15 year-old Poppit, 18 year-old Butcher, 20 year-old Captain, 14 year-old Bumper and Farmer aged 14 years. Also housed in the stable were an additional three black colts and a chestnut.
By
1794 Frankland was still unmarried and there was no one on the horizon to gain
his attentions. This man had now excelled himself in his genius and had
been busy at the drawing board once more and had this time designed and
installed a useful horizontal windmill to raise water from the Muntham well for
his household.
This new apparatus consisted of a tall central shaft, fitted all around with
shutters and including some attachments for the grinding of grain. A truly
ingenious device of its day. The unusual idea came from the wind power
used in a Norse watermill.
The design of the structure was not without flaws though. During the winter of 1794 there was a calamity when the chain and bucket were accidentally dropped down the 350ft. well shaft and landed with an almighty splash. It apparently took three precarious descents into the gloom of the cavern by the courageous James Baker and James Osburn, before the salvaging of the items was complete and water collection could continue. I cannot help but wonder if William came out to supervise the operations.
As time went by, William had a constant and increased (and virtually guaranteed) supply of clear water. This no doubt contributed to his next decision, made about this time, to enlarge the ponds containing fish that he had inherited in his grounds.
By the 1790s many visitors, such as the renowned naturalist, Gilbert White, came to Muntham to witness for himself first hand the resourceful windmill at work and to stand and marvel in wonder at the smaller items of machinery.
It is related that the coachman on the London to Worthing coach always took particular care to point out the Muntham mansion in the distance — as a place of great interest, to his passengers as it proceeded down the nearby highway.
William's absolute obsession with automation did not mean that he had dispensed with manual labour. He employed a large workforce. Not all were Findonians as would be imagined in those days. Some of his specialist employees travelled from abroad to follow both traditional estate work in Findon and more specifically to maintain and operate his mechanical equipment.
In all I understand that William spent around £20,000 of his fortune on his creative automation and inventive machinery. I wonder if he ever paused to consider that this was more than three times the original amount he had paid for Muntham Court itself.
I have always maintained that we are all basically nosey (even though we would not admit to this) and cannot resist reading anything meant for someone else. Who could not be forgiven for having a sly peep in a diary they found — especially when the word "Findon" jumps from the page of a journal.
In February 2005, Jon O'Donoghue wrote to me saying that he was currently transcribing the diaries of a lady named Anne Rushout (died 4th April 1849) and he had come across a reference to our William Frankland who lived here in Findon.
I learned from Jon that Anne Rushout was a well-to-do lady diarist of the eighteenth century, one of the three daughters of John Rushout, 1st Baron Northwick, of Northwick Park in Gloucestershire.
Her journals span from 1791 to 1846 and I found that she had travelled the country, making observations of a spiritual nature....and of attending all the social events expected of a lady of her age and class. This is how she arrived in Findon in her coach and here are her memories from her diary of her days in the village....
|
19th August 1795 At Findon we turned to the left which brought us close to the house of a Mr Richardson which is extremely pretty – surrounded by the charming Downs & the spire of a church peeping between the trees. We drove through the grounds and passed through a gate which brought us upon the Downs. About a mile further is Mr Franklins, the house is entirely enclosed by a thick plantation, which makes it a very gloomy place. We called in hopes of seeing the mechanical inventions of the owner, but it was late and he was at dinner, but he gave us an invitation to come the next day, so we prolonged our drive upon the Downs. Upon a terrace of at least four miles commanding a most enchanting view on each side, on the left we saw Chichester, Bognor, Hampton &c the view bounded out by the Sea & on the right a view over a most beautiful rich country. Close under the Downs is a large house belonging to Sir Cecil Bishop. After driving upon this sweet turf for four or five miles, the lateness of the hour compelled us to return back much to our regret. On returning we stopped to see the working of a Water Mill which is in a building above Mr Franklands and supplies his house with water, when there is sufficient wind it is worked by the wind at other times by one man who does it with ease. The well is 350 feet deep and has one bucket goes down another comes up and there is a curious contrivance to empty it into the trough as it comes up, and there is a machine for grinding corn which goes on at the same time. The ingenuity of this well gave us a great desire to see the other contrivances of the ingenious owner, so we determined to come again the next day. We returned home the same way that we came. 20th August 1795 We drove to Mr Franklands, where there are a greater variety of mechanical things than are to be found I suppose in any one house in the world. We first went into the Music Room where was an organ of his own making and musical instruments of all sorts. Here likewise was the electrical apparatus and a very curious machine in the form of a clock, which beat time any time that it was set to, on being wound up. It is impossible to enumerate all the ingenious things we saw here, many of which have had great improvements made upon them by Mr Frankland. There we saw machines for making carpets, stockings, linen, tape, cloths, ribbon etc for printing, bookbinding, turning wood and in the Library is an Orrery, an air pump, an uncommon fine magnet which was taken by his brother the Admiral from the Spaniards, a Model of the Temple of Jerusalem etc. etc. We only lamented that the head which could understand all these things should ever droop, but Mr Frankland, though 75 years old promises to be a useful member of society many years longer. He told us he never knew what it was to be ill, has travelled all through the deserts of Arabia to Jerusalem and is now President of the Arts & Sciences. He has a little Concert every evening at which he himself assists, and to all appearance I never saw a more happy man. We took our leave at three o’clock (which is the hour his doors are shut to all company) extremely well pleased with the entertainment we had had.
|
Continue if you would like to read about Royalty in the Area during the time of William Frankland.
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 |
Back
to Muntham Court Index