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

CRIMES CONNECTED WITH FINDON  IN THE 1500s

Copyright Valerie Martin 2007

Originally printed in Sussex Local, November 2007

The earliest known map of Sussex was made in Queen Elizabeth I's day by Christopher Saxon and showed Findon.  This map of 1575 indicated Broadwater and Terringe (Tarring) in somewhat larger letters than Sountinge, Launcynge and Findon (known by us as Sompting, Lancing and Findon).  Worthing was non-existent and was not shown at all.

In 1509, the Lord of the Manor of Findon, Edmund Dudley, was executed by King Henry VIII.  This was for extortion whilst collecting money for Henry VII.  Findon Manor was subsequently forfeited to the Crown.

The Howards held Findon Manor briefly, until it was again forfeited to the King who bestowed it on Sir Christopher Hales.

It was during the days of Henry VIII (1509-1547), that Sussex was referred to as  “Sussex full of dyrt and myre”, because of its intolerable clogging clay soil.

In 1538 the Manor of Findon was conveyed to another rogue, Lord Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, political leader and advisor to Cardinal Wolsey and King Henry VIII.  Members of his family are said to have resided at Findon Place although he only held it for a short time.  He was beheaded on Tower Hill on 28th July 1540 for treason in promoting the King’s failed marriage to Anne of Cleves.   The same day, Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard. 

In 1540 there was a complaint to King Henry VIII by a Richard Brode of Rusper.  He had sent a lad to buy three bushels of wheat from the busy Tarring market for the purpose of making bread.  As the lad was riding home and passing through Findon, John Michelborne, one of the bailiffs of the sheriff of Sussex, halted him and confiscated the wheat.  The lad continued to Rusper to inform his master. 

The result of the complaint is not known, but it is interesting to see that a common citizen of this era had the right of complaint to the King about the matter. 

The fact that Richard thought it worthwhile to send his lad all the way from Rusper to Tarring indicates how important the Tarring market must have been in those days and, no doubt, the villagers of Findon were also taking advantage of it.

Robert Edwards was a cutler and lived in Chichester and he was also an aspiring burglar on the side.   One autumnal day his destination was Findon with the intent of pilfering.  It was 30th September 1576, and while about his business he stole a purse worth 2d. from Anne, wife of William Cooke.  This contained an angel worth 10s., half an angel, worth 5s., and 1s.10d. in money.  He did not feather his nest with the booty on this occasion and nor did he evade the law. 

Henry Homeword was a Findon man and while in Sompting found himself accused of stealing a quarter of wheat worth 20s from William Henshawe, described as a "gent".  At East Grinstead Assizes in February 1577 he was found not guilty of this crime.

William Smyth of Warnham, was lucky enough to escape the law in 1588.  He was a butcher by trade and was indicted for grand larceny.  At the East Grinstead Sessions he was accused of sheep stealing at Findon on Tuesday, 17th May, 1588.  On the day in question four sheep had been found missing in suspicious circumstances from the safety of their sheepfold.  They were worth 10s. and owned by Richard Monerye of Palmers Coombe (Palmers Coombe being the area where the present Roger’s Farm lies).  It was some consolation to him that he was fortunate enough not to be found guilty.  By the question remained, who took the four sheep?

In 1590 the weather was taking its toll on the weak and ailing and mortality rates were high.  Richard Gyle was a labourer of Findon and conditions were maybe becoming desperate.  He travelled to Pulborough on a Thursday in bleak mid-winter.  The date was 20th December 1590 and with hardly a thought for the consequences, he rounded up six sheep said to be worth 3s. from a man named Gregory.  This acquisition was, no doubt, to see him the long winter months ahead.                                 

Gyle was caught and taken to East Grinstead Assizes where, seven months after the crime, on 20th July 1591, he appeared, most likely head in hands, before Judge Robert Clark and Serjeant John Puckering with a grand larceny charge.  Final judgment was passed and he stood as he was found guilty and allowed clergy.

Those sentenced to be hanged could sometimes get off by pleading "benefit of clergy" and reciting what was known as "the neck verse", the first verse of psalm 51 in Latin.  It was thought that literate people might well be in holy orders and, therefore, could not go to the gallows.  It gave the judge an opportunity to allow a more lenient sentence to be bestowed when so many offences carried the death penalty.

Many of the accused in the reign of Elizabeth I were at the very bottom rung of the social pyramid and in rural areas were often labourers working on farms and living either on the employer’s premises or possibly in lodgings and had records as long as your arm.   Such were the Penfold brothers and Richard Dowse in Findon; they had few material possessions and it was the norm to lead precarious existences.  

Richard and John Penfold, together with Richard Dowse, considered they had hatched a fool-proof plan.  During the coldest season of the year, these labourers were caught and arrested for stealing six bushels of wheat from Henry Shelley on Tuesday, 11th February 1597, and indicted for grand larceny.  It was not a trifling matter and brought misery to them.

The case went before a court of law for the purpose of administering justice at East Grinstead Assizes on 21st February, 1597.  

The culprits went unrepentant before Judges Francis Gawdy  and Thomas Owen.   I imagine they looked as though they had just got out of bed in the clothes they had slept in — and stood hands in pockets (if they had pockets), slouching, staring at the ceiling or floor, either appearing to ignore the magistrates or clerk with no eye contact and answering in Neaderthal-type grunts.   

Richard and John Penfold were found guilty.  The verdict on Richard Dowse has never been recorded but, undoubtedly, he received the same conviction as leniency was not the order of the day in England at that time.

Continue if you would like to read about William Wilkins' Mistake.

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