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

THE DOWER HOUSE — HOLMBUSH

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Holmbush in the High Street was built at the time of Queen Anne, but has since been enlarged and is mainly early nineteenth century.

The property was rather interestingly originally the Dower House for the Manor of Findon and intended for occupation by the widow of a past owner of Findon Place.

At one time there was a Holmbush Meadow running between Cross Lane and the High Street.

In 1787 the Manor of Findon was purchased by William Richardson (whose arms may be seen over the present porch at the manor).  The Greens who sold him the property, however retained certain outlying parts of the estate.  This included the Dower House (now Holmbush) and it, therefore, ceased to be a dower house.   They held the property until 1837. 

I next caught up with the history of Holmbush when it was the home of Joseph Harrison aged thirty-two and single at the beginning of the 1880s.    He was living at there with his twin sisters Emily and Caroline. He is described as a farmer of Findon with 780 acres employing twelve men and five boys.  Born in Chipstead Surrey Joseph was one of a large farming family, some of whom farmed at Field Place Durrington, Lyons Farm Sompting and Chatsmore Farm Goring.  Findon lost him when he later moved on to Yapton Farm and then to Barham Court Farm Bognor.

It seems that Holmbush next became the home of the barrister-at-law Hugh Richard Penfold Wyatt and his wife Grace Evelyn — probably from the time of their marriage in 1885.    They subsequently moved to the Cissbury Estate in Nepcote in 1901 and Holmbush had a new occupant.

The new face in the village was the Reverend William Dennis Allen, MA.   He had arrived in Findon following the death of the vicar, Robert Cholmeley and had moved into the Vicarage, (now the Findon Manor Hotel), along with his father, Mark; mother, Barbara Sarah; and sister, Gertrude.  By the turn of the century, the family had moved into Holmbush.

n 2003, Holmbush with its six bedrooms and three bathrooms, came on the open market at an asking price of £750,000.    It retained many of its original features, walled garden and coach house.

Continue if you would like to read about Fox-hunting in the Findon Countryside in the Past

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