THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE —  these Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and contain scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

GLASS PLATE NEGATIVE OF FINDON WINDMILL?

Copyright Valerie Martin 2006

At the end of May 2006, I had a visit from the late John Pelling.   He had this very interesting photograph that had been made from a glass plate negative with the label stating that it was the "Findon Windmill".... what a lovely portrayal of a windmill in a state of dereliction....

We both looked at the surrounding countryside to see if we recognised anything in the way of contours of the land, flint walls and houses.....

Note the chimney to a dwelling on the far left.    Also the tall metal "pipe" in the foreground.   I asked surfers if they had any ideas?

In January 2009, Barry Pyatt suggested.... "The metal pipe in your glass neg picture of the mill is, I believe, a foul water venting pipe ... we had several of these in South London where I spent my early years.

The clue, to me, is the top ferrule and flange top detail, coupled with the larger base, which sometimes had a door in it for maintainance work on the drain below.

If this is the nature of the pipe, it would suggest to me that the pictured mill was adjacent to a road, since those vent-pipes were generally in the side-walk.

A civil engineer aged 70 could probably tell you !!"

Could the glass plate negative be of the long lost Findon Windmill?   If it was not the Findon Windmill.... which windmill was it?  

Who took this picture and documented it as "Findon Windmill" if it was not?

Pam Stepney threw in an opinion"....."Dear Valerie....It would be nice to think that the chimney to the left was that of Mill Cottages Findon but I think it is more likely to be the chimney of the Miller`s cottage at Ballards Mill Cissbury / Broadwater whatever it was called.

Pictures of Ballards mill show the roundhouse to be flint built whereas the roundhouse in you picture is dark in colour.

Not sure what to think.

Have looked at other pictures of Sussex windmills and cannot see another ventilation pipe.  Pam."

So at that point in time in 2006 we agreed it was definitely not the Findon Windmill on the downland to the east of Stable Lane....... I was leaning towards the photograph being of the Cissbury Windmill.     

I surmised that the photographer gave the picture the bland title of "Findon Windmill" because the Cissbury one was the only windmill actually standing at that point in in the Findon area.  

Five years went by and during this period, unfortunately, John Pelling died....... and no one mentioned the Findon Windmill again until March 2011 when Rob Cumming emailed....

"Hi Valerie.....Just been looking at your website for the first time in a few years, with the newish photo which John Pelling had found captioned Findon Mill.

I've been comparing this picture with the one of Cissbury Mill dated 1908, and I suspect they are not of the same mill. The body of the alleged 'Findon Mill' appears to be slightly larger at the back than the one of 'Cissbury Mill', and the in-filled weatherboard at the back of Cissbury Mill is not present in the 'Findon Mill' picture. Someone pointed out that the roundhouse of Cissbury Mill has far more flint in it, whereas the 'Findon Mill' picture is brick.

It is most definitely a close call; the Worthing area had a number of black post mills which looked very similar; Heene, Salvington, Storrington and Cissbury all look remarkably similar, and this is probably due to the mills being built or rebuilt by the same millwrights.

If I was to stick my neck out, and bearing in mind that Cissbury Mill appears to have had sweeps on 'til the end, I would say that the 'Findon Mill' picture is what it claims to be, or if not, another mill in the locality. I don't think it is Cissbury Mill.

It's a shame the picture in Jack Long's story is so indistinct as it might be able to help identification. I can't see anything resembling the remains of a windmill in the blur!

Hope this helps....Best wishes....Rob Cumming"

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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.