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

MISS SCHROETER’S FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2004

Originally published in Along the Furlong in January 2004

Around the year 1883 a prosperous young lady of German descent arrived to live in the parish of Findon. I expect she was most likely considered immensely wealthy compared to the poorer villagers. Her name was Miss Emma Louisa Schroeter (born 1856 in Middlesex) and she purchased the house in The Square known today as the Village House.  The property is first mentioned in 1527 when it was conveyed to one Thomas Benet.  Over the centuries there had been considerable alterations and additions to the property, but to Emma the house with its hotch-potch of styles and materials presented a most attractive appearance.  Work on the building in the 1960s revealed herringbone brickwork of the Tudor period on the south wall.

I have gleaned that Emma arranged for further alterations to be made and by 1885 she opened the doors of her convalescent home to many patients who came from London. She gave herself the title of Lady Superintendent and she employed Mary Trevellion (born 1852 in Hackney) to be in charge.

I understand that The Village Home, as it was named, took about a dozen inmates by the end of the nineteenth century. On Sundays Emma would take her patients to St. John the Baptist Church. In those days, there were not many empty pews.

In 1891, when Emma was 35 years old the nursing home was still a flourishing concern and Emma employed a nurse, nursemaid, cooks and general servants.

Emma was a lady of many interests and she had an enterprising nature. Later she acquired another property in Stable Lane, including a paddock where one of her chief interests was the breeding of Arab horses and ponies.   This was called "The Grey Stud" and the approach was by an avenue of lime trees leading from Stable Lane up to a graceful entrance arch built of timber.   Buildings were erected on the paddock for stabling. 

Eventually, Emma turned the stabling into rustic chalets.   Three of the chalets were taken over by the Canadians during the Second World War when they were manning gun emplacements nearby.  Cyril Langridge of Findon later carried out ingenious improvements when he bought the properties.   He and his family then lived in the largest chalet until they moved into their new house and shop in Nepcote Lane.   Another tenant was Mr. Gunlach, who, with his wife, ran the village shop.  Their chalet was the last of these to be demolished and stood for some time rather forlornly in the field when the appropriately named Pony Farm cul-de-sac was developed.

Emma also owned Pebble Cottage in the High Street and on her land off the High Street, between Goatcher’s Garage and Hermit Terrace, she had coach-houses and stabling for her Arab carriage horses. 

Emma married William Hunt an artist in the registration district of Paddington.  From then on she became known as Mrs William Hunt.  In 1890 one of the coach-houses in the High Street was converted into a spacious studio for her artist husband and this became known as The Studio.  The Hunts lived nextdoor.  (I have heard that in 1983 there was still hanging in the lounge an oil painting reputed to be the work of William Hunt).   In the stables here Emma kept her carriage horses, Arabs again.  Once of these was a fine stallion called Findon Don.   Stories have been handed down of the spanking equipage she drove through the village accompanied by her dogs.

Peacocks, including the rarer white variety, were kept in a large open pen the grounds. Villagers stopped to look over the iron gate and see them strutting round with their magnificent trains and there was always someone watching when the birds stamped their feet and vibrated the shafts of their long feathers to make them clatter like the blades of a sword-dancer.

Pam Stepney of North End tells me that her mother well remembers the peacocks and she always wanted to ride on the top of the local bus to get a better look at them.  Coaches (in the days when they were called charabancs) always stopped there when on excursions, or "mystery trips" from Worthing for half a crown (12½p). It was one of the sights of the tour to see Findon High Street and the peacocks!  

In those far off days, the peacocks strutted and preened themselves in front of the buildings, which have now been converted into private residences where some of the original mangers and other stable fittings can be found.

I have been able to tell from the census returns that by 1901 Emma was 46 years old and a widow.   She still lived at The Village Home, as did Mary Trevellion.

By 1914, Emma was the owner of The Village Home, The Cottage, Shady Lane Cottage and Danegelt Studios. She also had paddocks and loose boxes at Pony Farm.

Also there were her buildings at Homecroft in the High Street, and opposite the Black Horse and at Orchard Croft. She also had four meadows — two of which were at Homecroft and two near the Black Horse.    Pam Stepney tells me that she recalls the lovely paddock at Homecroft, which was almost opposite The Studio.   At one time it stretched from the High Street back to Cross Lane and there it was bordered by a narrow strip of woodland that was a white mass of snowdrops in late winter.

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.