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

TIMOTHY PASSES THROUGH FINDON

Copyright Valerie Martin 2002.

Gilbert White was born in Selborne amid the chalk downland of Hampshire in 1720. As the years passed he often travelled through Findon on his way to see his Aunt in Ringmer near Lewes.

On the death of his Aunt Rebecca Snooke in 1780, I know that he inherited her tortoise, Timothy, who was a mere 46-years old at the time.  The reptile can be imagined making that return bumpy journey over the downland from Lewes to Selbourne and I guess he must have passed through Findon on the journey with his new owner.  The above tortoise shell is in the Natural History Museum  under Gilbert White's collection.   Could this be the shell of Timothy, I like to think so? 

Timothy had been born in 1734 in the Province of Virginia in the midst of a savanna that was situated between a large tobacco plantation and a creek.   By a quirk of fate he was eventually unceremoniously kidnapped by a sailor and never saw any of his peers again.   He became a rather unwilling prisoner-cum-companion to the man sailing the Atlantic.  

Timothy duly docked in Sussex via Chichester Harbour.  After the exchange of half-a-crown, there followed a jaunt of 40-miles by horseback during which time he was packed in a basket slung by the side of the servant of his newly acquired owner.  

This is how Timothy came by a roundabout route to live with Gilbert's Aunt Rebecca at Delves House and remained in Ringmer enjoying cos lettuce among other things for almost forty years.

   Gilbert White

When Aunt Rebecca died in 1780, Gilbert was summoned and duly arrived at Delves House and woke Timothy from his slumbering hibernation.   The reptile then had to endure another 80-mile final journey by post-chaise (in a box on Gilbert's lap I guess).   For sure the route would have been via Findon (and maybe the Gun Inn) to Selbourne.

Gilbert had a sense of humour and Timothy's supposed autobiographical letter complains rather bitterly and indignantly that his new master constantly expected him to fall into the garden's ha-ha upon arrival.  

Gilbert conducted many experiments with Timothy and the tortoise had the humiliation of (among other things) having his pulse felt — being made to sprawl on the local grocer's weighing scales every six months to check for gain or loss after hibernation.   Timothy wrote — 

The unfortunate tortoise was also humiliated and roared at through a megaphone to test his aural reaction and was even forced to take to a tub of water and swim for his life.

In May of 1784 he decided to escape from his imprisonment of The Wakes garden (through an carelessly left open gate) into an adjoining meadow perhaps looking for a lady love. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side.   Disillusioned, Timothy surrendered after eight days of freedom and retreated back to a lonely life in his familiar garden.  

Continue if you would like to read the Shepherds' Wild Turkey.

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