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

THE FINDON CONCRETE BLOCKS — 1944

Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

Here is a Findon scene back in the mid 1930s..... some four years before the Second World War started.

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 Looking south west, the photograph shows Bost Hill in the distance with a few of the houses built at that time on the skyline.   At this time, no one thought that concrete blocks would be placed in the Bost Hill vicinity as anti-invasion measures during yet another war.  

Our defence strategy against the enemy in the Second World War was about 20 ft. wide with irregularly positioned rows of 5 ft. concrete blocks in situ — a total of 391 concrete blocks. These were set in long lines, with just enough room between each for a man to pass through. Seen from the top of Church Hill or Cissbury Ring these giant's stepping stones stretched across the hillside and made an impressive (but depressing) sight.  Fortunately the tank trap was never put to use and was eventually removed after the war.  For many years it left a relic of a

The date of the following photographs is around 1944 and shows some of the anti-invasion blocks installed ..... the property, Gore Cottage, still stands at the junction of the Findon Road (A24) and Bost Hill.

Concrete blocks stride passed the old Toll House at the foot of Bost Hill with the junction with the A24 and almost dwarf the little property.  Perhaps the blocks were positioned to make the more dim witted recruits in the German army get out of their tanks and scratch their heads, puzzling how to proceed...... as the Findonians attacked them?

The above photograph illustrates how Findon tried to combat an enemy attack with huge tank traps and defence blocks. The blocks ran down from Church Hill to the south of Nepcote like dragons' teeth.   This vintage photograph shows the anti tank blocks straddling the A24 (immediately after the turning to Nepcote) and marching up Church Hill.  

The above scene shows the concrete blocks in the main road .... running between the garage and a property at the southern end of the Findon Road. 

 Findon's invasion defences blocking the A24, looking north, outside the Vale Stables and Maxwell Cottages.   On this occasion they are anti-tank cylinders (with pookie tops).

26th June 1940    Anti-tank cylinders outside The Vale Stables again.

The notorious anti-tank cylinders on each side of the Findon Road (A24), looking northwards....at the entrance to The Vale Stables.   The houses below Ockenden's Woodyard in Nepfield Close are clearly visible above what appears to be a hedge.    Today that "hedge" is a row of very tall trees. 

The A24 south of Findon.   Some thirty years after the war.   This picture shows in the 1970s exactly where the tank traps once stood outside The Vale entrance..

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This is a photograph over the rooftops of the houses in Findon Valley during the Second World War.    The wartime defence workings encircling Cissbury Ring stand out clearly.

Here are some more of those "blocks" at the St. John the Baptist Church environs......... and here they go passed the lychgate....

The concrete anti-invasion blocks stride across the Findon countryside with Cissbury Ring in the background.

ANTI-INVASION DEFENCES....

Date:  1944

Location:  Seafront defences and the Worthing Pier....looking west along the eastern end of Marine Parade, towards the Pier Pavilion in the background.

In the foreground is a bunker.

On the left along the promenade are concrete blocks, part of the anti-invasion defences put in place during the Second World War.

 

Goodbye, to the unsightly concrete blocks in the spring of 1945.   The above anti-invasion block is being transported on a lorry heading north on the A24 through Findon Village.    The house in the picture is Gore Cottage at the bottom of Bost Hill and the small building beyond is the old Toll House that was demolished in the 1960s.

Specially adapted lorries transported the blocks away one at a time. They were taken to Hall & Company's sandpit at Storrington. Here they still lie submerged in the murky depths of the colossal sandpit.   Back in Findon, only remnants and scars can be found, if one knows where to look on the hillside.

There was much repair work to be carried out in the area of Findon after the war. The old cottages at Cobden Farm, used for target practice by soldiers, were finally demolished in 1944.

The black-out in Findon ended on 11TH SEPTEMBER 1944 after five long years of night-time darkness.  Adolf Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945. Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima on 6th October 1945, and Nagasaki on 8th October that year. Japan surrendered.

On 20TH NOVEMBER 1944 it was a mild autumn day but Findon suffered heavy rain until noon.    It started once more soon after 4 p.m.   It was brighter in London.... after five long years of blackout, the lights are switched on again in Piccadilly, Strand and Fleet Street.

Continue if you would like to read The Danny Fernley Story

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