 Marigold Cottage many decades ago — perhaps 1960s?...........Earlier? Does anyone remember? The horses are outside the forge in Nepote Lane (now John Henry's Bar) Are you one of the girls in the photograph? |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.
Marigold Cottage many decades ago — perhaps 1960s?...........Earlier? Does anyone remember? The horses are outside the forge in Nepote Lane (now John Henry's Bar) Are you one of the girls in the photograph? |
THE RIDDLE OF MARIGOLD COTTAGE
Copyright Valerie Martin 2003
Originally published in the Findon News in April 2004
It has occurred to me that there is a mystery connected to Marigold Cottage opposite the site of the old Forge in Nepcote Lane. I wonder if it had connections with the smithy of the past?
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I have not yet come across any really interesting history connected with Marigold Cottage, except that parts may date back two hundred years. Surely it must have some history? Even a few smugglers perhaps? Half of it appears to be quite old but is not mentioned in any chronicles.... although I think it may date from Stuart times as do other nearby buildings such as Kenseys and Manor Cottage in Cross Lane.
Kenseys was built in Stuart days, around 1640, and at one time boasted its own well. As one would expect, it belonged to a farmer by the name of Mr. Kensey. It is reputed that there was a passageway from Kenseys' cellars leading straight to the Gun Inn — no doubt for the easy transportation of contraband. I have been told by the present owner that the damp cellar has since been filled in and no evidence of the passageway remains.
Manor Cottage has fascinating timber in the lounge bearing the etched date of 1641. It is with all probability that the property now called Marigold Cottage also dates from the same period.
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The subtle autumn tints in Nepcote Lane in 2003. |
I understand that in the late 1800s there was a steady procession of elderly parishioners to be seen going to and from Marigold Cottage each Friday (when it went by another name). They were going to the house to collect the Parish Pay due to them. The Relieving Officier from nearby Storrington delivered this.
By the 1920s/1930s the name of the house had been changed to Marigold Cottage.
Has anyone knowledge of this compact property and its origins before it was renovated and made into bed and breakfast accommodation? Do let me know anything about this corner of Findon or anything interesting about the past occupants — so that I can add this to the records for posterity before all is lost.
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7th April 2004
Dear Mrs Martin After reading about Marigold Cottage, I am writing to tell you in the pre war years my widowed great aunt and her family resided there. It was then St. John's Cottage. Fanny Robinson had two sons and a daughter, Beatrice. Her sons were Walter and Albert who were known to all in the village as Brasso and Shiner. Aunt Fanny died in the late 1930s, the daughter was then married and left home, so when the war started the brothers joined the navy and gave up the rented house. I remember it being rather dark with a damp smell, a wooden building built at the end of the cottage housed the tank I think rather than a well for the family's water supply. In No. 3 St. John's Cottages lied one of Fanny's sisters, Sue, married to Harry Walls. They had two daughters, Nell and Primrose. Nell married Frank Skinner and lived at 20 School Hill where their daughter still lies in the family home today aged 84 where she was born. I would think a record in Findon in 2004. A third sister was my grandmother, Jane Mitchell, nee Berry. She and her family moved from New Buildings to Rose Cottage, Horsham Road in 1917. A friend traced the family in the census of 1881 for me then the Berry family lived in Elder Cottage, Nepcote. At that time my grandmother attended the village school. She was born in 1870. Today her great great grand daughter attends the school, making a run of five generations of our family. My project for the year 2000 was to make an album of the village with photos and card write-ups of changes in my lift time. When I was 8 years-old I went to Kings Messengers that was held in the annex of Mrs Mackenzie Smith's house then Byways, changed from Kenseys and back to Kenseys today. I hope this may have been of some help and interest to you in your grand work for Findon.... Gladys Lambourne Gladys Lambourne, Findon Village, West Sussex.
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Photograph from Peter H. Browne of South Africa. His Grandfather was William Hamilton Browne who resided in Marigold Cottage and the photograph shows Peter's mother c. 1950 outside a snow covered Marigold Cottage.
click on pics to enlarge Peter's photographs
This is William Hamilton Browne who owned Marigold Cottage all those years ago.
Peter emailed in April 2008
...."I can remember the inside of the cottage as being extremely low ceilings and you
had to bow to enter the doors, at the one end in the so called sitting room
there was a huge fireplace over which used to hang a
genuine blunderbus, it was
very narrow and the cottage only catered for two people, we never stayed there
but in the village. all rooms were very small but very cosy. His wife kept a few
layers in the yard in a coop and they supplied them with their eggs and were fed
the scraps mixed with mash every day. I was told and saw that the cottage was
built in two halves, one in flint and the other in stone, it seems to be
plastered now, how sad.
I was very bored on that holiday and whilst in Findon took a job with a
proffessional rabbiter named Whittington cant remember his first name, we set
traps twice a day all over the downs and I received Thrupence a rabbit, this
helped my meagre allowance, on weekends and other heydays I would beat kale so
that the landed gentry could shoot pheasents etc, it was great fun.
My father and his father used to go to the Gun Inn every day around lunchtime
for a drink and I would accompany them but being under age was not allowed
inside, there used to be a bench outside in that entrance area and I had to sit
there, Bob the dog was allowed inside".
FROM ROGER BLACKWELL (one time resident of
Findon)...."Dear
Valerie......I turned up this picture of Marigold Cottage out of my "Findon
File" - it
was one of my own photos and most likely taken on a Kodak Sterling camera and
developed and printed in the loft of my parent's bungalow which served as my
darkroom.
click on Roger's lovely pic to enlarge
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Here are some pictures inside Marigold Cottage in 2004 when the property (the cream building on the right) took a turning in its history and was run as bed and breakfast accommodation in conjunction with John Henry's Bar in Nepcote Lane.
Continue if you would like to read about the Findon smithy — The Lasseter Blacksmiths — Matthias in Particular
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.
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E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com |
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