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

ORIGINS OF THE VALE STABLES

Copyright Valerie Martin 2008

The "Harry Davison" section was originally published in part in Sussex Local dated July 2008

The buildings comprising the racing stables started formerly the Limbers Farm and there are reputed to be traces of the old buildings.   

The stable block was built by George A. Ralli and the racehorses were exercised on the Gallops at Bost Hill.    George lived at The Towers in Cross Lane in Findon and I've been told that he died at a comparatively early age of 40 from double pneumonia.   Even so, he managed to pack much into his life and was said by all to be an accomplished sportsman and was also the founder of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt.  

It is known that during the epidemic of typhoid of 1893 he donated a sum of £300 so that a property on the seafront at nearby Worthing.    This was duly renovated and converted into a temporary hospital.   

As far as I am able to discover William Henry Burbridge trained there from 1890 until 1895.  His home address during this period appears to have been Kingswood Villa.    In 1893 William Burbridge had four winners from three winning horses, winning £495 in prize money.  By 1894, he was training at Michelgrove and he had  23 horses in training and this was broken down to eight older horses, six 3-year-olds and nine 2-year-olds.  He trained for Mr G Ralli, Mr P Ralli, Mr A de Laski, Mr C R Cunliffe, Mr W F Haine, Mr G P Holmes, Mr A Argenti & Mr W M Clark.   It seems that the stable was split as William Halsey (of Nepcote Lodge Stable fame) is listed as also training from the same address, with 16 horses.  

A report in the parish magazine of 1890 says that “Harry” from The Vale was “thrown on to his head” and is “none the better for it”.  I wonder who "Harry" was!

John Stepney in Findon has emailed..."Here is the only postcard of Vale Cottage I can find-The A24 runs left to right in the middle of pic.

Following the road from middle of pic you can see the barn at the Vale, now a kitchen showroom, the next on the roadside is Vale Cottage, you can see end gable and roof clearly.

click on postage stamp to enlarge

I have been told that one of the small white marks to the left of the cottage is the water pump- a metal structure about 30 feet high. There is another water pump which can just be seen to the left of the small clump of trees in lighter coloured field in centre of pic.
The card is dated Aug 19th 1916  JS"

Here is a photograph of the Vale Cottage on the A24 in 2008.

Click on picture if wishing to enlarge

Thomas Edward Young rented the stables from Walter Simpson c.1907 and continued to train racehorses.   When I met the late John Pelling one afternoon in September 2002 just prior to the Findon Sheep Fair on Nepcote Green, he presented me with the above delightful postcard he has recently purchased.   The view is of Tolmare dew-pond with Blackpatch Hill in the background in 1913.   The racehorse is from the yard of Thomas Young who trained at the Vale Stables in those days.

He had one of the best looking chestnuts in “Waterbed” and high hopes were held for the Grand National, but an untimely death dashed any hopes for this.            

Thomas Young’s son, Cecil, b. 1895, (who had been a steeplechase jockey), trained at The Vale after him c.1922.  Cecil married Kathleen Finn who was the daughter of George Finn who owned The Gun Inn c. 1924.  She was the barmaid and this is how she met Cecil and they courted. 

Cecil was a member of the Findon Cricket Club and in 1928 the Findon Cricket Club decided to have colours of their own.   A horse at The Vale Stables had won several races in the colours of its owner, black and amber.   It was agreed that these should be the Cricket Club colours.

Brian Vick trained at the Stables c.1934.  Before the Second World War horses were still exercised on The Gallops below Bost Hill.   There were two sets of jumps and they ran from north to south and crossed the road which was covered with straw.

During the war the Gallops at Bost Hill were laid to agriculture and many rectangular crop marks came to light and suggested that extensive buildings had been present many years previously.

After the war, Scadgells had greyhounds in training at The Vale c. 1946.

Harry Davison trained at the Stables. c.1951 and during this period Paddy Hogan (son of jockey, Patrick Hogan who came over from Ireland in 1921) rode over the sticks for Davison — he brought home a total of five winners riding for Captain Ryan Price at The Downs Stables as well.      

In 1953 a surprising amount of flint implements were found on the Gallops at Bost Hill and excavations were considered.  In 1956 the Gallops at Bost Hill were put down to grass as a public open space to prevent further development in that area and to stop the houses encroaching.

Harry Davison  c. 1956 at the Newmarket Yearling Sales.

In 1963 Harry Davison retired.   He owned the freehold on The Gallops and these were sold outright to Captain Ryan Price for £8,100.

At the end of February 2008 I received an email from Harry Davison's daughter, Pat Davison living in Newmarket.  She gave me lots of valuable information from the days when her father was a trainer in Findon......

"Dear Valerie, Harry Davison trained at The Vale from 1950 to 1958 after purchasing the property (I think for about £10,000)from a Mr Scadgell who owned a furniture store in Worthing and who had trained his greyhounds at The Vale.
A lifetime professional trainer from a family of trainers and jockeys, Harry had been a leading trainer in both France and Belgium but had only moderate success at The Vale his main winner being Three Star 111 in the 1956 Lincoln Handicap (a much more prestigious race then than it is today), at odds of 50 to 1.

  c. 1955 — Pat Davison (her father Harry Davison was the trainer at the stables) riding Three Star III.

click on image to enlarge
 

The string returning to the Vale Stables from the Findon Gallops in 1956.   That's Pat Davison on Three Star II in the lead.

The horses are heading south and traversing the western side of Nepcote Green just at the turning down to Steep Lane.

Click on image to enlarge
 

As my fathers assistant trainer, I had looked after the colt and rode him in all his work. I returned from America at the end of 1955 after a season breaking yearlings in Lexington, Kentucky breaking yearlings, specifically to help prepare Three Star for the Lincoln after he had been third in the same race in 1955.

Harry unexpectedly decided to retire at the end of 1958 after his best season on the flat and spent the next three years building Caymanas ark Racecourse in Jamaica.

I stayed on at The Vale to train about 10 horses but after 2 seasons jumping and one season on the flat, Weatherbys refused to renew my licence as women were not permitted to train prior to 1966.

When my parents finally returned from Jamaica, my father did not want to commence training the the entire property was sold to Alan Oughton in 1965.

We had also owned the downs gallops which had been sold to Ryan Price about 2 years earlier.

My father never trained at The Downs although we had rented the stables as an over flow yard when it was vacant about a year prior to Ryan Price taking over.

I very much enjoyed my time at The Vale and remember most of the people mentioned on your web site, although sadly many of them are now dead. Regards Pat."

SEARCHING FOR PAT DAVISON......In August 2010 I heard from Jack Smith in Australia........   "Dear Valerie....Completely by chance I came across your Findon Village site which I found very interesting because in 1956 I worked at The Vale for Harry Davison and was a good friend of Pat Davison, She will remember me well.

If she is still alive I would love to make contact with her after all these years.

I would be grateful if you are able to contact her to let her know that I have made this contact with you. If she does not wish to contact me I will just understand that too much water has flown since those days.

For her information I have lived in Australia since 1970, am now 79 and have had a very interesting life with good and bad stories in it, the attached picture is taken as I type this.

Thank you for your time and I hope you can help, Jack Smith".

I had to tell Jack that I had last heard from Pat around 2007, and that I only keep surfers' email addresses for a year or so.... and, therefore, I have lost contact with her.    I suggested he write her a letter and post it c/o Newmarket.   This he did.

"Dear Valerie....Thank you for your very prompt reply to my request for info about Pat Davison. When I left the Davison's I also gave up my involvement with racing. I did hear that Pat may have married Bob Smart or as they say here had become his partner and he certainly went to Newmarket not too long after. I did a little internet search some time ago but did not find anything I thought was correct i may try again now you have confirmed about Newmarket. At my age I have discovered that most of my contemporaries are no longer about and also so few use the internet.

Re putting something on your site . You could say along these lines that you had been "contacted from Australia by Jack Smith who had ridden some of Harry Davison's jumpers and had won two races for him on a horse called Canopus. The horse would probably have become a good racehorse but unfortunately died under anaesthetic whilst having a minor operation while Jack was on enforced leave with a broken foot".      Jack"

A couple of weeks later, I heard from Jack again.... another satisfied customer....."Dear Valerie, I had just about decided that my snail mail was a failure when this arrived this morning so thanks to you, Pat and I have made contact, it will be interesting to get her letter.

I have investigated your site more now and am learning a lot I did not know. Sorry I did not know about Chanctonbury spectres, I reckon I would have spent at least one midsummer night up there if I had they were other days though,
Best wishes for the continuing success of "findonvillage" and Thank You for your help in my quest, Sincerely Jack Smith".

Continue if you would like to read about The Youngs at The Vale.  

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