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

NORTH END THAT WAS

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002

North End is as one would expect — at the north end of Findon.  Habitation of the area possibly dates from Celtic and Roman times but I would have to arrange an archaeological dig to prove it!  The little community has certainly been in existence for many hundreds of years.  Potsherds that have turned up in the various gardens indicate a continuous occupation.  North End Farmhouse (shown here in a photograph of 1999) stands beside a well defined track that just could have been trod by the marching Roman armies. 

I have found that the first mention of there being a North End settlement was c.1485 and any cottages at that time would undoubtedly have been built for the occupation of agricultural labourers perhaps from the Muntham Estate.

There were perhaps four dwellings at North End by the 1700s.  The first large-scale county map, Richard Budgen’s of 1724, indicates small communities dotted over the Findon countryside.  Strangely, the village itself is not shown (even though it existed) but there is a of a collection of homesteads indicated at North End.  Other familiar properties indicated on the Budgen map are the Manor of Findon (Findon Place), Muntham Court and Kingswood.  North End was also well placed on a map of Washington Manor of c.1745.

Early North Enders would have built their settlement in close proximity to a water source.  Having no stream, river or spring in the vicinity they had to dig for water.  This was a complex and time-consuming business and undertaken by men employed as "well sinkers".  The wells they dug ranged from basic stone-lined ones with wooden lids to those of a more complicated design.  A notable feature of wells sank in the 1800s were the "well-heads" containing the winding gear (such as at North End).

The North Enders, home from the fields each day, would come to the well with their yokes and utensils to replenish the household’s water supply.  The unwinding rope made a subdued whine as the large empty buckets hurtled downwards into the gloom.  This was followed by the more deep laboured hum of the rope as the full vessels steadily rose upwards with the icy cold water.

North End Terrace, built probably in late Georgian days  (1820s?) emerged as a rather uninteresting row of seven front doors and seven chimneys.  These cottages boasted capacious cellars as were usual in the old Findon properties. 

In 1835 the entire Muntham Estate was put up for auction.  The Manor of Washington, North Farm and North End House were purchased by the Goring family.

Around 1836, North End House was occupied by Captain Freeman Thomas (b.1808).   1836 was the year of his marriage.  His son, Alan Frederick, was born at North End House in 1844, also his daughter Isabella Mary, who married the Reverend John Goring in 1861.  Captain Freeman Thomas later moved to Ratton, Willingdon in East Sussex.  For many years, a member of the Thomas family was Master of the Southdown Fox Hounds.

The smuggling of illicit goods was an accepted occupation for villagers living near the coastline.  It is said that such a gentleman from North End sampled rather too much from a keg of fine French brandy and flushed with the experience he staggered forth and mounted his horse.  He proceeded to gallop in circles in an  meadow adjoining North End.  This continued until he was finally exhausted and slumped off his steed with a thud and promptly broke his neck as he hit the ground.

North End Green was a narrowing tongue of the nearby downland.  It afforded pleasant pasture for both horse and cow — and the residents' chickens happily pecked and scratched there all day through.  The cottagers piled their sawn firewood and stacked faggots of kindling in readiness for the dark winters ahead on the Green.  Here also the elders would sit on warm spring-like days, passing the time of day and casually glancing at  the road below when a horse and cart passed.  It was not a wide road in those days, perhaps only 20 ft. across with no footpaths.

By the 1900s, the community at North End consisted of a farmhouse, farm buildings and a full dozen cottage homes aside the main Worthing to Horsham highway.

In the early 1920s Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne of Muntham Court had his eye on a parcel of no man's land in front of the terrace of cottages.  One day his men arrived and planted a neat row of young poplar trees in front of the spot to stake his claim.  This upset the North Enders as one might imagine and they immediately went out under cover of darkness and pulled them all up. Little did they dream their efforts would be in vain and that very area of land was destined to eventually be swallowed up under the A24 dual carriageway in the future.

The North End hamlet was deplorably disfigured when the main Worthing to Horsham road was widened in 1938 and many of the familiar land marks were swept away.  Whole farm buildings were demolished and the surrounding large trees cut down without any thought of conservation in those days.  Mrs Barbara Hylton Madge of North End House also had to say goodbye to part of her garden.

Perhaps the most regrettable passing was that of the ancient well now under the south bound carriageway.  Mrs Madge requested that she be allowed to have the wooden well-head and her wish was granted.  A dual carriageway with concrete surface, a central grass reservation and wide footpaths took over the lives at North End from that date.  From the Well House at North End to The Quadrangle, south of the village, there was said to be a line of disused wells, all of which were around 200 feet deep.

Pam Stepney who lived at North End House in later years tells me that the old well-head was discovered buried under a pile of vegetation in the garden.   Sadly it disintegrated and fell to dust when it was revealed.   She said that all that remains of it today is the iron handle that once passed through the roller. 

Continue if you would like to read about Viscount Montague's Curse.

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