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

TRAFFIC  PASSING THE GUN INN

Copyright Valerie Martin 2004

What a great pity I do not have a photograph of a coach and horses drawing up at the Gun Inn in olden days. Instead, I do have one portraying an original omnibus.   

The horse-drawn omnibus arrived in this neck of the woods in 1841 and the first service was between Worthing and Shoreham, so it did not actually come through Findon.  It was ponderous and hardly suitable for beating a world speed record.   This early run was to link up with the railway to Brighton and then London as this had been completed in 1841.

It took twenty-five years for the next arrival on the local omnibus scene.  This was Henry Norman's twice-weekly service from Worthing to Chanctonbury Ring via Findon in 1866.   The fare was 2s.6d. and the trip was more in the nature of an outing than a regular omnibus service and I guess they passed the Gun Inn and may even have stopped.

Nancy Price (1880-1970), lived at High Salvington and wrote in her book, "The Heart of a Vagabond" published in 1955....

"I cannot remember the coach, but I do remember Findon's first horse-'bus.  It was a kind of closed wagonette, there was straw on the floor in wet weather and it had curtained sides to protect from rain and wind, though these were by no means adequate in stormy weather;  but passengers were a hardier breed in those days. 

When the coachman was ill, his wife drove the 'bus, and I remember one occasion when she was driving, a wheel came off and rattled into the hedge.   One of the passengers asked if it would be all right, and she replied, "Why yes.  Bless you, we'll get there presently.  We'm lucky to a' got the tame horses this morning; t'others be havin' a rest".   When I ride on the motor 'bus today, sitting on its upholstered well-sprung seats, I think with some regret of the old horse-bus with its wooden seats, its draughts and good companionship".

This early bus route soon became popular and a treat for many, especially the young ladies of the Edwardian era. One of the highlights of the journey was waving their handkerchiefs from the lumbering bus to the soldiers training at the Territorial Army Camp at Washington.

The first of the steam omnibuses arrived in Worthing in 1904, when the Sussex Motor Road Car Company was formed to run a regular service between Pulborough and Worthing and linking the railway stations.   This went via Storrington, Washington and, of course, Findon.  Their offices and garage were behind the Railway Hotel in Chapel Road — which was much later to be the Rivoli public house, until it was demolished in recent times.

Another bonus of the bus service was the excitement of whether the open-air two single deck Clarkson steam vehicle would complete the trip without breaking down, at least once. These early buses regularly came to a halt because of the "hard" water in our area (so familiar to the local inhabitants of Findon).  It proved nearly fatal to the flash boilers of the vehicles with their water fuelled form of propulsion.  An "instantaneous start" for a steam engine in those days meant anything up to eight to 19 minutes after light up from cold.

The bus company tried to put off the inevitable by installing large underground tanks at the White Horse Inn in Storrington.  It was a vain attempt to collect "soft" rain water for the bus boilers from the inn's roof and stable block.   Trouble with the injector was also a problem and some remembered that on a journey between Worthing and Pulborough, the driver had to pump vigorously by hand on the whole journey.  Unfortunately, it was a year of drought and after only six months, the two steam buses were pensioned off and sold and they were replaced by a Milnes-Daimler single-deck bus.

After six months the steam buses were replaced by five Milne-Daimler motorbuses, with the added feature of a smoking compartment built behind the driver (for the use of which an extra 3d was paid).  

One driver of these vehicles related afterwards that accidents were often occurring —

"due to the road conditions and mechanical breakdowns and the vagaries of horse traffic".

There was an occasion when an approaching horse shied and went across the highway immediately in front of his bus.  To avoid hitting the animal, he applied his brakes so hard that the vehicle skidded into a telegraph pole.   None of the passengers were hurt and the vehicle continued on its journey through Findon to Pulborough.   I would mention that every piece of glass in the windows was broken.

On another journey, a rear wheel came off while the bus was descending the Bostal at Washington just to the north of Findon.   The bus dropped down on the torque rod at the side of the chassis and slid unceremoniously down the rest of the incline, I would hasten to add... without overturning.

Another transport anecdote coming up.  Some people are always complaining and in those days was no exception.    Here is a complaint dated 1907 from a gentleman in which he was forced to start to walk to Findon .....

It seemed he completely failed to comprehend that if it had not been for the motor bus service in the first place, the writer would have not been able to think of getting from Storrington to Worthing at all — so cut off were our outlying villages at that time.

Worthing's two services of horse-drawn buses, entirely owned and operated since the previous century by a James Town and a Mr. Jay, were finally put out of business and the horses pensioned off and finally out to grass —  they  were replaced with motor buses.   It was not entirely their fault but they had not foreseen the introduction of a new, cleaner and swifter omnibus that was powered by an engine.    Perhaps they HAD seen it coming but had not wanted to acknowledge the fact. It was upon James Town's death at the age of 86 in 1912,  his son, George, did a turnabout and he changed the family firm to operate motorised omnibuses in 1916.   There was considerable stiff competition with several motor bus companies operating and it was in 1915 that three of them amalgamated to form the Southdown Motor Services Limited.   George Town held on to his independence for another three years until 1919 when he, too, sold his bus service over to the Southdown Company.    This sadley severed an old Town family connection with local transportation which had lasted over three-quarters of a century.

A reporter of the day (back in 1911) wrote favourably of Findon —

Continue if you would like to read about The Browns at the Gun Inn c.1874.

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