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

THE MYSTERY OF YE OLDE VILLAGE SHOPPE

Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

Published in Sussex Local, July 2010.

 I will attempt to do a little time travel to the year 1886 to discover the whereabouts of a certain shop that was advertised in a village that was a hive of industry at the time ― Findon.  

Lets take a peek into the past when the "big" houses in the area were Muntham Court in all its splendour....the seat of the Marchioness the Dowager of Bath.  

Findon Place.... the ancient Manor of Findon..... was the home of Lieutenant Colonel William George Margesson.

The house called Cissbury in Nepcote was the Seat of Hugh Penfold Wyatt JP at this time.

The Reverend William Gover (the Honorable Canon of Worcester) lived at Saltystead in The Square ..... now renamed Grey Point.

Miss Elizabeth Bull ran the school on School Hill with her rod of iron.

To set the scene, the population 125 years ago consisted of over 700 souls, the majority of these living around the centre of the village and Nepcote which was a satellite community.   Findon in those days could boast its own veterinary surgeon and there were blacksmiths, bakers, carpenters, shoemakers, sadlers and ironmongers.   There was even a marine store dealer, butcher, fly proprieter, bricklayers, beer retailers, millers wheelwrights and goodness knows what else.  

Yes, they did advertise back in those days too ― so there must have been a certain amount of competition for trade.   Here is the fascinating advertisement for one of the shops but I have been unable to locate exactly where Mr. F. Aslett's shop was situated..... 

click to enlarge

The Aslett family appear to have held considerable stock but this does not give any clue as to the whereabouts of their establishment..... could it have been in the High Street?    Maybe they did not run their business for very long in the village and were soon forgotten?

A well-known grocery shop and Post Office at this date was run by Thomas Winton in The Square.... and so this eliminates the possibility of the Aslett's premises being situated near the Gun Inn or Grey Point.   

Here are some of the other shopkeepers' actual advertisements that appeared in a publication of 1886 and rather interestingly none of them appeared to think it necessary to give their exact Findon addresses in their advertisements..... giving the impression that they were all well known.

Here's an Ockenden spread of the same era.... and, of course, we know their woodyard was on the site of Nepfield Close in Nepcote.....

In January 2012, Chris Green emailed..."Hi Valerie.....Findon Hewlett.....Mystery of Ye Olde Village Shoppe....Was interested to recently read the above article about the Aslett & Hewlett families of Findon

I have a little more information about the Haslett family.

1881 James Hewlett Age 57 was a Coal Merchant living with his wife Elizabeth nee Charman Age 55, at Findon Street adjacent to Thomas Winton at the Post Office.  Their Daughter Annie age 13 was a Monitress at Friston School

1891 Elizabeth was by then a Widow age 64 living at Hermit Terrace Her daughter Annie age 22 was described as a Grocer.  Annie was the Miss A Hewlett described in the Grocery advertisement.

Elizabeth was the Mrs James Hewlett of the Hermit Terrace furnished apartments.

I was rather interested as my Great Grandmother Maria Green lived at 2 Hermit Terrace in 1939 and also previously at a property listed as Homelin cottage adjacent to Hermit Terrace in 1911.

When I visited Findon in 2010 I noticed that a property nearby was then named The Old Post Office.  Chris Green".

 I hope that one day I will be able to solve this mystery of the location of the Aslett's shop for once and for all.

Continue if you would like to read about Bob and Roger Blackwell's grandfather in .....The Life in Findon of Frank Ernest West (Bob & Roger Blackwell's Grandfather)

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