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

FINDON'S PARSON RABBIT (or is he a Winnick?)

Copyright Valerie Martin 2009

Published in the Sussex Local in 2009

The other day I was asked while on Cissbury Ring with Suzie and Katie, "Have there always been rabbits here, or did the Romans bring them over?"    This set me thinking and I had some vague recollection about Romans introducing them .... or were they hopping around the hillside even long ago in Neolithic times? 

Here is a fact.   Remains of rabbits dating back half a million years were discovered not far away in West Sussex..... at Boxgrove.....so my guess is that they were burrowing away on Cissbury at that time.

Other references to our rabbit population state that the Romans introduced some to Britain.   They kept them in walled or tiled warrens and harvested their meat and fur.    To quote a Roman —  Marcus Terrentius Varro (116-27BC) wrote that the legions brought rabbits from Spain, and they were reared in walled enclosures and then served up as a gourmet dish.

In 2005, archaeologists confirmed this when they discovered the remains of Britain's first Roman rabbits, brought in for food some 2,000 years ago.   The bones had been butchered thus indicating the flesh had been eaten.   So from all of the facts,  I can now assume we have some of our original native rabbits mingling with the descendants of the Roman's Spanish variety.

In June 2009 I heard from Lesley Chamberlain in Findon ......."Val, I spotted a Black Rabbit the other day when I was walking on the footpath below Findon Manor towards Rogers farm....
 
It was happily munching at the grass about 3.00 in the afternoon, and I have read Watership Down and am feeling quite well thank you!!.
 
Has anyone else seen it??...Lesley."

I told her I had seen a black rabbit occasionally. I had not seen the black rabbit on the way to Rogers Farm.  A few years ago I often saw one beside the A24 southbound carriageway just south of the Washington roundabout. Not sure if there was only one..... or more than one..... or if I kept seeing the same one!    



Peter Archbold emailed from New Zealand to say...."Hello Valerie, I can recall - in the 40's and 50's - seeing an occasional black rabbit on the Downs and farm land around Findon.

In the days when Rough Shooting was popular with Landowners, they - or their Gamekeepers - used to release a black rabbit or two into the wild.

The object being to check whether their land was being poached by night. These black rabbits were sometimes called "Parsons". If they could be seen about - all was well!

Is this practice returning?  All best wishes, Peter"

John Stepney of Findon emailed in...... "Pam and I also saw these black bunnies south of the Washington roundabout a couple of years ago but have not seen any there this year.

This year we have seen black baby rabbits a little further north, just south of Southwater on the A24.

We have never heard of them being called Parsons.

Being a Sussex boy we always refer to wild black rabbits as WINNICKS. I have no idea why they are called this but would like to know - any ideas?"

Lawrie May of Antigua in the West Indies wrote..."Dear Valerie.....Black Rabbits are interesting aren't they. There are lots on Deeside in Aberdeenshire so its not just a Sussex thing.

As for them being called Winnicks I can only suspect that it has a connection with the witches trials of the seventeenth century. A John Winnick was suspected of witchcraft and claimed to have been visited by a spirit which was black and shaggy but not so big as a coney. After forsaking God the spirit presented him with an imp - a rabbit which killed cattle for him.

According to the internet this information is recorded in a book by Malcolm Gaskill.

Of course it might be totally irrelevant !"

So is Mr Black Rabbit a Parson or a Winnick?    Suzie and Katie are experts on rabbits and they are not letting on.

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