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

PATCHING POND

(Map Reference TQ 087 056.

Copyright Valerie Martin 2005


 It is a little known fact — but it is recorded that there was a mill at nearby Patching a very long time ago..... in fact, as long ago as 1234, 1341, and 1631.  The first reference is I presume to a water-mill and the obvious site for this would be below Patching Pond.   It is worth noting that a place called Millhouse was recorded in 1680 as being near The Common (which lay in that area).

I guess the first record of the true Indian Runner duck in Britain was back in the 1830s.   Its name now covers birds that have been with British domestic ducks in the late nineteenth century.    Three of these have now flown in to our nearby Patching Pond (just off the A27) and have taken up residence.

You'll recognise these rather unusual ducks amongst the swans, cygnets, mallards and moorhens at the pond because they  have long, narrow heads on a thin neck set on a long apparently attenuated body.   They have a rather extraordinarily upright carriage, which is accounted for by their thighs, legs and shanks being excessively short (and placed so far back) that the Indian Runner must carry itself erect to enable it to walk or run successfully.  

The Indian Runners on Patching Pond in December 2005

 

I'm told they can travel with some speed when running ... although haven't actually seen it myself.   They were rather hungry and too busy squabbling for seed when I visited them on Patching Pond.

Patching Pond, December 2005

 

Patching Pond in June 2006

I always like to add a piece of history for you...... In the late 1700s and early 1800s there was a race-ground on the downs east of Northdown Farmhouse.   The Sussex custom of Guy Fawkes celebrations was observed in the 1800s and a Clapham and Patching Bonfire Club was formed in 1952 and still exists today.

At the end of the 1800s there were village holidays called "Pond Days" and these were celebrated at ... yes, you've guessed it....Patching pond.   Duck Races were held here although I'm not quite sure how they were conducted.

Here's a delightful portrayal of Patching Pond ...

Looking east along the Arundel Road.   Painted during the long hot summer of 1858....  on 10th July.   

I even know the date of the watercolour.... but I don't know the artist's name.    

 

This is a painting by the same hand of the area looking west along Arundel Road.  

I even know the date of this one too.... the picture was executed on 20th July 1858. 

The inn in the background is at the bottom of Fox Hill and had been established by 1765 and was named Patching Pond House as it lay by the village pond at the bottom of Fox Hill.  

By 1847 Patching Pond House had been renamed The Horse and Groom and this must have been the name of the property at the date of the above watercolours.  

In February 1902, the pond froze completely over .   This brought many delighted skaters out to the ice and a report reads thus.... "The area presented an animated scene, skating, sliding and hockey being in full swing.   Towards the end of the afternoon the ice became rather treacherous on the outskirts, and one boy managed to take an involuntary cold bath, much to his disgust and amazement".


2nd July 2006

dear valerie, if i may call you that.

patching pond

it was with great interest that i discovered your site on the internet this summers morning.

i was born at the horse and groom in september 1959, where my father was the publican and lived there until 179 when my father retired from ill health and we moved to worthing.

i have always had an abiding interest in the area that i was born and at one time had quite an encyclopediac knowledge of the place. time of course has past and i have filed so much somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain.

as far as i can recall there was an inn on the site of the h&g in early mediaeval times, the rear section of the current building dates from the late 1300's and sadly the original cellar (which flooded each winter) was filled in in the early 1980's by one Peter Keane an alleged gangster from south london, his family had at one time owned the famed elephant & castle.

the pond however is likely to date from roman times. it is a clay lined man made affair and it is thought to have been constructed to supply cooling water for the iron smelting works which were located in the paddock adjacent to the east of the top of the tear drop. the pond is fed by three and maybe four springs along its bottom the most obvious being in the reed beds at the north end.

early in the 1970's there were three majestic elm trees in this paddock which were removed in the days of dutch elm disease. around this time excavations were carried out by one of the local archeological societies and the findings house at the museum in worthing.

the source for the iron was thought to be from the ironstone deposites at the bottom of the chalk cuesta around the steyning area and the likely route was over the downs in an almost straight line via sullington barn on the horizon.

as an aside i can well remember the remains of a clock tower in the woods above patching that dated back to the time of an monastery or abbey that was destroyed at the disestablishment, that belonged to the dulaney manor.  dulaney being a knight that was rewarded with a desmeigne after 1066. see dulaney lodge in patching village.

more is coming back to me as a write, so if you would like to hear more then please let me know.

regards

Jamie Selby.
 

 

By the late 1980's inn  had been completely revamped and a restaurant was added.

In 2002 it was again refurbished and the name became The World's End.    This was not a name originally enjoyed by the local inhabitants.   Although I like being taken there.

No Indian Runnersunners but plenty of skaters in 1908.  This was a winter with the worst blizzard for 28 years with deep drifts formed into fantastic images.   The roads were clogged and motor and horse bus services were halted from Findon to nearby Worthing.  

 

This photograph of Patching Pond was taken in 1912.


For a bit more historical content, in 1929 Patching Pond was crowded with hundreds of ice skaters during a February cold spell.  Even at night, when people used their car headlamps to illuminate the picturesque scene.

Here is Patching Pond again...in the 1950s....

...and I even know the owner of the boat...... I'm told it was a gentleman named Clifford Potten.

In 1962 I am told that freezing weather in January meant that skaters culd once again take to the ice on Patching Pond.

"Skating on a Winter's Evening".   Here is Stanley Roy Badmin's depiction shown above of the Patching Pond in the snow.

 

Here's the scene again in the late 1970s/early80s

 

Patching pond in the frost and a layer of ice in December 2005

 

 


2nd July 2006

dear valerie, if i may call you that.

patching pond

it was with great interest that idiscovered your site on the internet this summers morning.

i was born at the horse and groom in september 1959, where my father was the publican and lived there until 179 when my father retired from ill health and we moved to worthing.

i have always had an abiding interest in the area that i was born and at one time had quite an encyclopediac knowledge of the place. time of course has past and i have filed so much somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain.

as far as i can recall there was an inn on the site of the h&g in early mediaeval times, the rear section of the current building dates from the late 1300's and sadly the original cellar (which flooded each winter) was filled in in the early 1980's by one Peter Keane an alleged gangster from south london, his family had at one time owned the famed elephant & castle.

the pond however is likely to date from roman times. it is a clay lined man made affair and it is thought to have been constructed to supply cooling water for the iron smelting works which were located in the paddock adjacent to the east of the top of the tear drop. the pond is fed by three and maybe four springs along its bottom the most obvious being in the reed beds at the north end.

early in the 1970's there were three majestic elm trees in this paddock which were removed in the days of dutch elm disease. around this time excavations were carried out by one of the local archeological societies and the findings house at the museum in worthing.

the source for the iron was thought to be from the ironstone deposites at the bottom of the chalk cuesta around the steyning area and the likely route was over the downs in an almost straight line via sullington barn on the horizon.

as an aside i can well remember the remains of a clock tower in the woods above patching that dated back to the time of an monastery or abbey that was destroyed at the disestablishment, that belonged to the dulaney manor.  dulaney being a knight that was rewarded with a desmeigne after 1066. see dulaney lodge in patching village.

more is coming back to me as a write, so if you would like to hear more then please let me know.

regards

Jamie Selby.
 

Continue if you would like to read Findon Nearly Had A Railway Station.

 

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THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.

 

E-mail: valeriemartin@findonvillage.com