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

ROMAN FINDON WITH MARK HOBDEN

Copyright Valerie Martin 2010

Back in 2002 I suggested to Mark Hobden some possible sites for metal detecting in the Findon area and he subsequently gained permission from the farm manager to search the site of the Romano-British community on the Tolmare land, north-west of the farm buildings. 

This was reputedly a third century Romano-British farm and comprised a considerable settlement, which was probably destroyed in a fire.  Archæology finds in the past  have pointed to this fact.  The farm was built on the site of an even earlier Celtic village, and vast quantities of tiling, potsherds and evidence of long settlement on the area have been discovered during excavations in more recent years. 

My intrepid metal detectorist was luckier as the field had already been under the plough, rolled, drilled and seeded and the farmer was still kind enough to let him explore it.  He said it was just heaven compared to the hard work in the field of stubble.  As he worked he could see that parts of the earth were blackened, indicating that there had been habitation in the past, although there was not much sign of pottery.  I have heard that in the past there was so much pottery unearthed that it was re-buried!

Mark also discovered in this field three bronze finger rings, one from a child, another an adult and a man's thumb ring.  A small bronze buckle was found, too small for a shoe.  

Another bronze artefact implement was also discovered.   This was about 5 inches long and tubular.  One end had a sharp point while the other end was more flattened.   There was no pattern on the bronze.  It could have been a surgical instrument, or one used for toiletry.   It may even be a stylus — the flattened end could have been used to erase any mistakes.

Mark also revealed a bronze woad grinder, which may be Celtic.  When the Roman troops (the Status Legionares Exploratores) arrived in the Findon area they were most likely met by well-defined tribes of inhabitants daubed with blue  — their faces lavished with woad. 

Woad was an early form of local Findon agriculture and would have been grown by a woader.  The crop looked in appearance like a field of small cabbages with pointed leaves and insignificant unprepossessing yellow flowers. Large woad plantations were, in fact, grown anywhere with poor or chalky soil, such as Findon. The young leaves were collected and pulverised, before being kneaded into rounds.  They were then dried and stored in casks. After months of patience, the strong blue dye emerged. 

These early inhabitants of the Findon area most likely stripped naked and decorated themselves with the blue dye when the legionaries were heard to be nearby. The woad was dual purpose.  It supposedly frightened opponents and also acted as a healer on the body. Any person daubed in woad apparently had a better chance of survival if wounded in a skirmish.  

Three Roman "follis" bronze coins have been discovered, which I understand were introduced around AD 296 and confirm the habitation of the site around that period.  Two of them are in extremely poor condition to the extent where it was almost impossible to identify anything.  The other was also in an equally worn condition but at least Mark could make out the Emperor's head, although little of the legend.  He has yet to identify this. 

A further find was a King George I penny.  (Reigned from 1714 -1727). 

A Victorian silver florin also came to light and a 1945 sixpence, these were within six feet of each other.  

It is not always dry and sunny when metal detecting.  There is always the unforeseen.  One day, Mark received an electric shock from one of the fences when he was climbing through a fence with spade and metal detector.   He slipped on a cow pat and threw out his arm to stop falling over.  Grabbing the electric wire to stop himself landing on the ground (and cow pat), he developed the fastest perm known to man.

In September I heard that a bomb disposal team had been called to Robert Heath's Muntham Farm following a bomb alert.   This was when a metal detectorist discovered a Second World War anti-tank shell.  I guess it had been abandoned during exercises by the Canadian Army when they were camped in the vicinity during the war.  I wondered if the metal detectorist was Mark — but it turned out to be another enthusiast — who had stumbled on the find between the farm and the site of the mansion, Muntham Court.  The bomb was lying in undergrowth and was 1 ft. by 4 in. wide.  Previously he had only unearthed soldiers' buttons and knives and forks with names on them.  I think this latest discovery gave him quite a shock.

Fortunately, after conducting tests this time, the team realised the discovery was actually a shell, and therefore, did not pose any threat.   I wonder how many more little reminders of the last war are there around awaiting to be discovered in the Findon area?

The search goes on for further Findon artefacts from the past. 

Continue if you would like to read about The Romano-British Farm in Findon

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