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

MEMORABLE MILL COTTAGE OCCUPANTS

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

The Mill Cottages were situated in the field to the west of the Mill House.  They were the nearest neighbours of the old Findon Windmill standing high above the Gallops. 

I have discovered that some of the cottages' occupants over the years had fascinating names.  For instance, Trayton Cane was a miller and maltser who lived in one of the cottages in 1841 and worked the windmill.  The mill at this time had been operating for some eighteen years and I guess it was a flourishing affair.  At this time only two cottages stood in the adjoining field.  The infilling to a total of seven properties to create an L-shape took place at a later date.

The Findon windmill was functioning until at least 1891.  At some time before living memory it was systematically demolished.   I do wonder if an enterprising owner of the site required the materials and flints from the roundhouse for yet another project?   Did the industrial scene of dereliction look so ramshackle as to offend a neighbour's eye from across the valley?

The Mill Cottages were also in a state of great disrepair by 1926 and the owner, Colonel Ulric Oliver Thynne of Muntham Court, was ordered to carry out renovations, which caused some controversy at the time.  The case was reported in the press and readers wrote in to say they did not know a windmill had ever existed!

The occupants of the Mill Cottages lived in an appalling primitive environment compared to today's standards.  Drinking water had to be drawn from a well on the site and the sanitary conditions would now be considered quite deplorable.  

In the 1930s John Upton and his wife resided in one of the Mill Cottages on the downland and the property was now owned by Captain E. N. Lyall.  John was an invalid and bedridden.  The old man was eighty plus but Mrs Upton handled him and all situations thrown at her and coped with keeping him fed and tidy.  She was known by all as Old Mother Upton and in her time had been employed in one of the countryside's most thankless tasks of stone picking — that is indeed a back breaking exercise.   She cleared the local farmers' ploughed fields of flints for a pittance. 

There was one occasion when the village doctor requested the district nurse to make a call and administer some assistance at the Upton household.  The nurse’s heart sank because she had been there before — but she knew her duty.  

She started off up Stable Lane.   Soon the road petered out to just a trackway leading to the Mill Cottages and the Downs.   On arrival at the collection of isolated cottages in the field next to the Windmill site, the welcome at the Upton residence was hardly inviting.  She discovered that to get to the bedroom where John Upton lay, she was expected to first clamber onto a table at the bottom of the stairs to heave herself up to the rest of the stairs.   The reason for this was because  the bottom four rickety treads had decayed and finally crumbled away.  As can be imagined, it was quite an effort for her carrying her bag.  

A couple of weeks later, there was nothing that could be done for John and unfortunately he died.  Mrs Upton then stayed on alone at the Mill Cottage.   She  continued to trek daily down the steep Stable Lane to the village to do her little bit of shopping and to make her daily appointment with the Gun Inn.

Some months later, the nurse received another note from the Findon doctor to make another of her visits to the Upton residence.  He had considered it necessary to admit the old lady to hospital with suspected appendicitis and he wanted her to be tidy and hygienic for the occasion.  

This time the nurse went armed with a big thermos of hot water, some necessary soap and clean towels — and also a spotless nightdress.   She had hardly started cleaning the patient when there was the rumbling sound of the ambulance arriving outside so she did not have time to complete the necessary task.  Later she received a telephone call from the doctor at Southlands Hospital to enquire if her patient had been living in a coal field.

Mrs. Upton survived her confinement in hospital and made a remarkable recovery from her emergency appendicitis operation.  On the appointed day, an ambulance trundled up Stable Lane and over the rutted trackway and brought her safely back to the Mill Cottages to recuperate. 

As the ambulance bumped down the track, one of the crew happened to glance back and there was Mrs Upton, complete with shopping bag, scrurrying out of her garden gate.  They halted in surprise.  Where was she off to now?  No guesses.  They waited for her and gave her a lift back down Stable Lane to the Square...... and needless to say, The Gun.

Perhaps the last resident to depart the dilapidated Mill Cottages before they were finally demolished around the time of the Second World War, was Mrs. Golds.  She lived in one of the west facing dwellings and could often be seen outside on sunny days, contentedly smoking her clay pipe. 

Her pipes were purchased from Wall’s Stores next to Findon Farmhouse, No. 2, The Square.  Bill Wall sold everything in those days — cigarettes, sweets, groceries and drapery.  His motto was “what you cannot see, ask for”, and then he would magically find it behind the counter.

Continue if you would like to read Arthur Kennard's Story regarding the Findon Windmill.

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — was launched by Valerie Martin in January 1999 and will grow to be a historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex, U.K.