THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — these Findon Chronicles were created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon,
West Sussex, U.K.    Everyday stories about real people.

THE BARK CUTTER MYSTERY

Copyright Valerie Martin 2004

The above fascinating photograph depicts a small village called Findon in 1938 with Cissbury Ring as the backcloth.   Unfortunately for us, it has grown much larger 70 years on. 

Have a look and see what landmarks you can recognise....

A flint wall on Church Hill Shaw runs from left to right at the bottom of the picture)

The water tower at The Towers can be seen (off centre to the left).

The old Wattle House can be spied on Nepcote Green.

The Lone Tree has not yet started growing on Cissbury Ring.

There are occasions when the rich pattern of village life is made up of fascinating insights into the past.   This story is regarding natural power — part of a  horse-powered bark mill which in all probability came to Findon from the nearby Storrington Tannery (on the site of which stood a horse round house TQ089142) some years ago.  

The bark-cutter was, I understand, constructed of heavy iron and circular in shape, 4ft. 2 in. high, 3 ft. 8 in.  in diameter and 11 ft. in circumference.  The sides had projecting, tapered blades.  

The bark cutter was dismantled some years ago and here the plot thickens as the outer section was retained in Storrington and the central portion was transported to Findon by a guy merely described as "a builder" and that is how this faceless character has gone down in Findon history.      The name of the builder was never to be revealed which is a great shame because it may have given me a clue.

It is reputed that the original central part of the back-cutting devise was then stood as an extremely unusual flower container on the grass outside a certain Findon cottage (address as yet also unknown).    

The mystery remains as to where the secret location of this Findon cottage was?    Does anyone know?   I understand that the exact position has never been divulged because of the owner's request (I wonder why!)

It would be interesting to see a photograph of the bark cutter in operation — complete with horse, of course, wouldn't it!

Continue if you would like to read From The Other Iraq

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