A Pound formed an essential part of Findon rural life in early times. Not everyone may realise that the area immediately to the east of the old forge in Nepcote Lane once housed the Parish's village Pound.
Pounds were often circular (I am not quite sure if Findon's Pound
was or not)....with flint walls and was an enclosure
for detaining stray or trespassing cattle, sheep and horses — and also for keeping
such cattle or goods until redeemed.
In the Findon Pound the Findon pound-keeper or pinfolder (a person in charge of a public pound), would have impounded any straying Findon animals found wandering the unmade roads of the day. In those times the Nepcote Lane may have been crossed by stepping stones so that walkers could avoid the deep and mud filled ruts of the village streets.
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The autumn tints of Nepcote Lane in 2003. |
In all probability I guess that some nearby miserable hovel would have been the pound-keeper's shanty where he lived.
The Pound was most likely still in use in the 19th century. A large portion of the wall stood for many years on the site after it fell into disuse as a Pound. All has vanished under modern development and lost forever.
The following is an extract from a Sussex County Magazine dated 1930 with the .heading of "THE VILLAGE POUND.... Nearly every village once had its pound for stray cattle, pigs, geese, etc. to be driven into and there kept at the expense of the owner, till such time as he should pay the fine (the amount claimed by the person on whose land they had strayed, for damage done), and the fee to the pound keeper, man or sometimes woman, for feeding and watering the same.
If not claimed in three weeks, the animals were driven to the nearest market and sold, the proceeds going to the impounder and pound-keeper. An ingenious form of receipt was sometimes used. The person who found the animals on his land cut a stick and made notches, one for every beast, and then split the stick down the centre of the notches so that half each notch appeared on each stick; one half he kept, the other he gave to the pound-keeper.
When the owner came to redeem his property and had paid for the damage done, the impounder gave him his half stick. He took this to the pound-keeper, and if the two pieces tallied, it proved he had paid and his beast was freed. Hence the word tally-stick".
Here's an extract from Nancy Price's writings (1880-1970) published in 1955... . where she talks of the pound ...
"On the other side of the smithy is the old pound. Here was impounded any lost animal, until the owner should come, pay his fine and remove his beast. As we are not yet in Paradise I often wondered what happened if creatures not naturally friendly were herded together; whether the ox, the ass, the dog, the cat, the pig, the goose and the sheep all lay down together in amity, deciding on a truce in their mutual misfortune of confinement and probably bewilderment. I shall never know".
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