Findon Village Antiquities - The Romans in Findon

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

THE ROMANO-BRITISH FARM IN FINDON

Tolmare Farm between Blackpatch Hill and Muntham early in the twentieth century.

First published in the Findon News, April 2001.

Updated and published in Sussex Local May 2010

The Romano-British farm in Findon in the 3rd century was probably destroyed in a blaze. Let us try and look at the area through their eyes. The site lay in the valley and on the slopes separating Blackpatch Hill and the Muntham woodland. It was at one time a considerable Romano-British colonisation, probably sited on an even earlier Celtic village. Vast quantities of tiles, potsherds and evidence of long encampment on the area have been discovered during excavations over the years.

The Romans' arrival in the Findon area began when 55,000 men of the Roman army invaded Britain in 43 AD. It is now difficult to imagine vessels of the Roman Empire bobbing on the waves of the English Channel and at anchorages along our coastline.

The Romans saw beautiful slopes of hillsides from their boats and when they landed they planned to trek over the dark trackless depths of the Wealden Forest of Anderida that covered virtually the whole of the area we now know as West Sussex. The tidal rivers wove a serpentine course for them to follow inland. The coastline of Roman Sussex was far more indented than it is today as the rivers reached the sea in tidal estuaries that in those days penetrated several miles inland.

When the Roman troops arrived in the Findon area they were most likely met by well-defined tribes daubed with a strange blue dye — their faces lavished with woad. This would have been an early form of local Findon agriculture and would have been grown by a woader. The crop looked in appearance like a field of small cabbages with pointed leaves and insignificant unprepossessing yellow flowers.

Large woad plantations were, in fact, grown anywhere with poor or chalky soil, such as Findon. The woad dye was extracted from the dark-blue-green spinach-like leaves. The young leaves were collected and pulverised, before being kneaded into rounds. They were then dried and stored in casks. The pungent aroma of rotting and fermenting cabbage-like leaves can be imagined. After months of patience, the strong blue dye magically emerged. The woad had a dual purpose and supposedly scared off opponents and also acted as a healer on the body. Any person daubed in woad apparently had a far better chance of survival if wounded in a disturbance.

The natives may have feared the invaders and initially greeted the Romans with blood curdling threats and curses — they had most likely drank draughts of powerful beverage to increase their bravado for the confrontation. Mighty blasts on war horns and the screams of the women and priests may have followed. It would not have been long before the natives soon realized that the Romans were remarkably benevolent as conquerors go. In the Sussex area the "invasion" was to mean little more to the natives than a radical change of government to us. Unfortunately, I have no exciting tales such as a Queen Boadicea look-alike thundering through Findon in her chariot with two shaggy ponies to challenge the invaders.

The conquerors quickly seized on the importance of this sheltered valley commanding the east-west route along the Downs giving access to the Weald. The term "Romans" is deceptive and must be used with caution as by the time the Romans arrived in Findon the armies were raised from every province in the Empire, from Spain to the Black Sea, and some indeed from North Africa. There were few Italians let alone Romans, in the armies that carried out the conquest and settlement of Findon.

The natives in the Findon area at the time of the "invasion" were quickly transformed from living in a land of "round huts" to witnessing the architecture of proper houses. The people in the vicinity would over the years begin to learn just enough Latin to get by from day to day with their overlords.

Aerial photographs have revealed crop marks of a large rectangular enclosure and buildings. In 1963, a Roman coin dated to AD 305 (the reign of Emperor Galerius Valarius Maximiamis) was discovered at Long Furlong..... not far from the site of the Roman village.

At this time there was also a settlement at Park Brow (beyond Cissbury Ring and to the east of the village). With the coming of the Romans, these inhabitants decided to move camp and came south to a point below the 250-ft. contour line.

Evidence has also been found of a Romano-British settlement within a quarter of a mile of Park Brow.

Church Drive, Findon, March 2001. This road was closed to vehicular traffic in 1823 when the Long Furlong A280 was opened.

During work in 1823 on the Long Furlong road, Findon workmen made an unexpected and remarkable find during their labours. They were making the cutting east of Tolmare Pond for the public turnpike road (now A280). The Roman Well in a nearby field had yet to be discovered. The road workers of the nineteenth century unearthed from the debris a hoard of items that at first looked like treasure buried from another time. It was, in fact, eleven almost perfect Roman urns, mostly whole, in which it was reputed at the time were human ashes. The revelation was met with much surprise as the Roman Well in a nearby field had yet to be discovered many years in the future.

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The workmen continued with their labours and proceeded to dig up a variety of earthenware vases and a smaller selection of shallow bowls. These were discovered together with phials for holding the tears of mourners. All items were in a good state of preservation and caused quite a stir in Findon and elsewhere at the time.

Many years were to pass before archaeologists discovered a Roman temple at the nearby Muntham Clump. This was just after the Second World War when they had gained permission from the owners of Muntham Court to excavate the area.

At the time the vicar of Findon, the Reverend Usher Bull, was very worried that they might be digging on consecrated land.

The Thynne family of Muntham Court, who were not particularly religious, were rather amused when they were told by the archaeologists that a Roman Temple had been discovered within yards of their own Thynne family burial ground at the Muntham Clump.

An important ancestor of Piglet was subsequently unearthed. This bronze pig found its way to the Worthing Museum. Replicas of the Roman pig were then manufactured and sold as souvenirs. I cannot help but wonder if anyone has one of these mementos in their collection today! During a BBC radio programme, Sir Mortimer Wheeler announced the original to be one of the best Roman specimens he had ever come across.

Continue to read a modern story about the Roman Invasion of the Downland

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