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

CISSBURY RING MYSTERY WITH WARREN WILLIAMS (1863-1918)

Copyright Valerie Martin 2008

click on pic to enlarge

This painting is dated 1906 and is described as you can see as Cissbury Ring...... I cannot get my bearings, can you?   

The artist is Warren Williams ...... who appears as born in 1863 and died in d.1918... so I cannot ask him.

I have received an email from a local lad, Peter Archbold, now in New Zealand....."Dear Valerie......As a "long range" guess I would have identified it as an "artist's impression" of the southern approaches to Chanctonbury Ring... "End of day" shadows support this?

The Artist - I note - did not write the name on the painting...

What and where is the flag? Surely somebody closer to Home can remember it?   All best wishes, Peter".

The mystery continues.   I have searched the countryside for this view...... the flag is a complete mystery.

From Mike Cooksey in Bristol....."Dear Valerie, I would suggest that the flag on Cissbury is the warning flag for the ranges. The hill on the left would be Salvington and that on the right, Vineyard Hill. The shadow of Salvington is cast over Vineyard. ...... but there's an awful lot of artist's licence!!

The horses are nice and I'm impressed with the man facing backwards ... but I don't think the flag is on a "Big Top"!

All good wishes Mike."

Good thinking, Mike...... the whole painting is odd isn't it...... right down to the chap riding sort of side saddle ! All very strange..... but then there's no accounting for some artists impressions!

I do love all of these mysteries that I have to try and sort out.... I think it is marvellous how so many ideas come in..... it gives me the impetus to continue with a soul destroying job.

From another Findon lad, Roger Moulds now living in Llandrindod Wells in Powys, Wales ..."The painting of Cissbury Ring by Warren Williams is interesting. I don't think it looks much like the Cissbury that I know.

I have done a bit of research, but have had to rely on snippets from Ebay. Warren Williams seems to have been a Welsh artist from the Conway area of North Wales. According to one Ebay source, he was a founder member of the Royal Conway Academy of Art".

What about this for an idea......the hill on the left could be Chanctonbury Ring and the riders are heading west towards Washington.   The view is looking south towards Cissbury Ring where a flag has been hoisted to warn that shooting practice is being conducted in the Rifle Range on the southern side?

Today it suddenly dawned on me that I had seen a painting with a flag depicted some time ago.......

The Rifle Range on the southern side of Cissbury Ring... looking north towards the butts.   Artist unknown.

Both paintings could be by the same artist maybe?   He could have had a liking for flags in the distance in his works?

Roger responds....."You may be right, Valerie, the style of the paintings is very similar.

The only thing that bothers me is the direction of the shadows. I have been trying to work out where the sun would have been, and what time of day it would have to have been. Perhaps that is all down to Artistic Licence?"

MORRIS EMAILS.....  "HI V, IS THE ATTACHED PHOTO A MILLION MILES FROM WHERE WARREN WILLIAMS PAINTED IT IN 1906?"
 

Oh dear..... Surfer from Angmering, you've scuppered my idea of Chanctonbury.   

HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS TO MORRIS FOR FINDING THE LOCATION OF THE WATERCOLOUR BY WARREN WILLIAMS back in 1906.

From on-the-spot investigations on a very misty start to the day (dodging the golf balls whizzing passed from enthusiastic early morning risers) I agree that the picture is indeed from the south of Cissbury looking towards the Rifle Range area.    

 click on pic etc.

My latest theory ....... maybe the artist, Warren Williams, lived (or was working) in Worthing and walked up through the fields towards Cissbury a hundred years ago and executed this painting.    

His portrayal is not really to my liking and I can't image exactly what the wagoners are doing with their cart horses.    That is going to be a long standing mystery.

If you check the shadows (this bit is for Roger).... they are about right with those in the photograph that Morris kindly sent in.

The trees have grown up over the last hundred years....... (not so much sheep and cattle grazing).   

The clump on the left are part of the South Wood...... some of the trees in that area are very old and came down in the hurricane of 16th October 1987 and so would have been standing when Warren Williams sat with his easel looking towards the Ring....

click on pic to enlarge

The flag is not hoisted on a "pimple" as it appears..... this is an illusion..... and it is, in fact, the top of the Iron Age Ramparts at the East Gate of Cissbury Ring.

As I've said, I'm not all that keen on the portrayal of the scene..... but if I saw the painting for sale, I would buy it.... simple because it IS Cissbury Ring and has caused so much mystery to me !

ROGER ADDS AN INTERESTING BIT..... "Well done Morris and Valerie to find just the right place. I am OK with shadows now.

There is no mystery about the horses. After, or before, a day's work the waggoners / ploughmen / whatever, often rode their horses to and from stable and work area, and it was a common sight to see a man riding sideways as in the picture. (Does this make me old?)

PS can't help the potty people popping potty questions about their potty pots. :)"

I had no idea that anyone would ride a horse like that..... thanks so much for pointing it out as the normal thing for wagoners to do, Roger.     Perhaps I am a couple of years younger than you and don't remember such things.  

I am getting somewhere at last with this..... I noticed that they wore halters and must be cart horses.

I now wish I could find that painting for sale... I am really fascinated by it.

PENNY ADDS HER PENNYWORTH......"Hi Valerie, I think Warren Williams most likely painted your current featured painting around the same time that he painted the Cissbury Windmill and Golf Course painting, which is on your windmill section."

If he had continued up the track from Worthing heading north......passed the Cissbury windmill (TQ 136 058) - otherwise known as Offington Windmill, Ballard's Mill and Broadwater Mill - take your pick..........the artist would have arrived at a good view of the "pimple" and the warning flag.    Obviously it was one of Warren's favourite walkies.
 
I'm now on the look out for the actual watercolour.   I wonder who has it?   I hope it is not stuck in some museum somewhere and unobtainable.

click on pic etc.

The rounded shape of the South Wood.... still the same as in Warren Williams day.

Continue if you would like to read The Elephant Mystery.

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