This is Findon - Crimes Connected with Findon in 1100s-1300s.

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

St. John the Baptist Church and Findon Place in 2000 (the Findon Manor of yesteryear).

CRIMES CONNECTED WITH FINDON IN 1100s - 1300s

When William the Conqueror landed in 1066, the villagers living at the Manor of Broadwater just south of Findon were within reach of the sea. (The village of the then Broadwater was only overtaken in size by Worthing as late as 1812). By 1086, Findon's big sister, downtown Worthing, comprised only twenty-two persons. They were mainly poor fishermen, living in a few isolated hovels on the coast. Nearby Offington was once an entirely separate town and was more important than Broadwater, but that was back in in 1282. For many centuries, Worthing was a poor little hamlet laying in the shadow of the Parish of Broadwater. Worthing did not officially claim to be a town until 1803.

The twelfth century was a turning point in Findon history when in 1120 a Norman Church was built.

Findon Place was first built as a hunting lodge at an unspecified date, probably c.1200 A manor house has stood on the site for probably as long as the church has existed. The stout mediaeval foundations and lower walls (in the cellars), are made of blocks of hard chalk (quarried from the Church Hill chalk pit), and indicate that there was a substantial structure on the site at a very early date.

During the Middle Ages (AD 476 - 1453) and later, the most important road in the parish was the east-west route through the Downs between Lewes and Chichester. It had two alternative courses through Findon. The more southerly road led passed the manor house and church; and further north, along the modern Nepcote Lane and School Hill.

Crimes committed by the ordinary folk of the village of Findon during the bloodthirsty Middle Ages have passed into obscurity and it is only those of the Lords of the Manor that have been recorded.

Such as that of William de Braose, (born 1197), Lord of the Manor of Findon in the *Rape of Bramber, (there have been ten or more bearing the name William de Braose over the centuries, so no wonder it keeps cropping up). He succeeded his father as Lord of Abergavenny, Builth and other Marcher Lordships in 1227. Styled by the Welsh as "Black William" he was seized imprisoned by the Prince of Wales, Llewelyn ap Iorwerth.

William was ransomed and released after a short captivity during which he agreed to surrender Builth as a marriage portion for his daughter Isabella on her betrothal to David, son and heir of Llewelyn.

The following Easter, Llewelyn discovered an intrigue between his own wife, Joan, and William. Supported by a general clamour for his death, Llewelyn had William publicly hanged "on a certain tree" 2nd May 1230 in the presence of some eight hundred gathered together to watch the spectacle.

*This brings me to a short explanation of the word "Rape" when referring above to Findon in the Rape of Bramber. The word dates from Norman times and was first used in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book. The term relates to the administrative and defensive division of Sussex — to which county the term appears to have solely confined. It is still a debatable point whether Sussex was drawn up into five or six Rapes.

Each Sussex Rape ran from north to south and each was based on a port and controlled a highway to the north. The Rapes were subsequently bestowed by King William on his most trusted and faithful barons. The Rape of Bramber (into which Findon fell) was settled on the Norman baron, William de Braose who came from Falaise in 1073. Rapes were sub-divided into "Hundreds". Immense castles were then built (such as Bramber Castle) to defend each Rape with its harbours and ports, while along the roadways running north, the Normans erected temporary garrisons.

An engraving executed many years ago of the ruins of our nearby
Bramber Castle.

In 1281 another bearing the name of William de Braose of Findon obtained a new grant of “free warren” from the King Edward I and was confirmed in it. He then took proceedings against Roger Covert, Lord of the Manor of Sullington, for hunting and killing two hares in Findon Manor. The defence of the culprit was that his "predecessors had always been wont on Shrove Tuesday (the date of the alleged offence) to course hares and foxes and also to cut staves in the wood and cast them, and carry them away".

c.1200 — An artist's impression of the original medieval timber bridge over the River Adur at nearby Bramber. The river is much wider than today. It seems that the centre span of the bridge swung open to allow single-masted boats to pass. Salt pans can be seen in the background on the right. The South Downs are behind.

c. 1230 —This is an artist's impression of the later medieval stone bridge at nearby Bramber.

One of the arches includes St. Mary's Church (granted in 1230 to Sele Priory in Beeding by John de Braose).

Salt pans can still be seen on the right behind the bridge.

This de Braose was a rather busy gentleman because he also had complaints in the Middle Ages against the Sele Monks at Beeding for wrongs and injuries (among others) to his forest and dwelling house.

Aline de Braose inherited the Manor Findon. She was married to John de Mowbray, and brought Findon amongst other estates to her husband. Unfortunately, it brought him no luck and when he took part in the insurrection led by the Earl of Lancaster, he was beheaded at York in 1322 for his share in it.

The Manor of Findon was bestowed on King Edward III's favourite, Hugh de Spencer (Spenser) in 1328. It did not do him a lot of good as he was destined to meet a tragic end when sentenced to be drawn on a hurdle through the City of Hereford, tied to a high ladder in the market place; burned; had his heart cut out and was beheaded. What order these took, I am a little unsure. There were other unmentionable tortures and his head was finally transported to London on a chariot that bore the verses of the 52nd Psalm.

Last but not least, when John de Mowbray of the Manor of Findon died in 1362 there was some confrontation and perhaps a little criminal intervention. At his death the dispute between the Braoses and the Mowbrays (as to the possession of the estates) went on for years and years. Lawsuits abounded and judges hesitated according to their wont to give a final decision.

The Mowbrays, however, seem to have held their own.

Continue to read A French Connection.

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

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com