This is Findon Village - Solving the Mystery of the Legendary Canada Barn below Cissbury Ring

Does anyone know why Canada Barn below the eastern side of Cissbury Ring is so-called? This is a question I have asked a couple times over the past ten years.

In May 2003, Peter Archbold in New Zealand put forward a theory....."I suppose it's too obvious, but I always thought that "Canada Barn" was so called because the Canadian Army used that area for training, certainly pre Dieppe. (1942) I left Worthing in 1944 and my recollection is that the Canadians did not come back to the Findon area for training after 1942. But I may well be wrong".

I am afraid Peter's theory was immediately dashed — although it was an excellent one. When I looked at a map dated 1875, there it was as plain as anything — "Canada Barn".

Therefore, it was so named long before the Second World War.

I tried again for a solution. A number of Findonians did go to live in Canada in the nineteenth century because of lack of work in the village — I could not help wondering if the answer was somewhere there, but I could not quite see the connection. An interesting suggestion was voiced that Canada Barn could have been a sort of staging point for the immigrants leaving Findon for a new life in the 1830s? Could they have congregated at our Canada Barn before trudging over the downland with their worldly belongings to set sail from say Shoreham? Well, it's an interesting thought ― but the barn is rather a long way from any habitation at village for the start of any journey.

At last the naming of Canada Barn was revealed.....by my Barn Expert towards the end of 2011. After mulling over theories for the naming of Canada Barn, David Johnston in Petworth presented me with the best theory yet.....

20th November, 2011.

Hi Valerie,

The Findon barn called – 'Canada' and other buildings by that name which are scattered about the countryside.

In about 1845, this country began to export the very first 'pedigree' sheep to Canada, for their breeding program. Pure bred flocks with stud
rams were produced for that market. The building up of these pedigree breeds no doubt took the farmers some considerable time – perhaps as
much as several years to establish the very best stock.

Now, at some stage, during this early scientific scheme, (perhaps shortly before transporting them across the water,) it would have been
necessary to segregate those 'well bred – supreme' beast from the remaining 'feeble' sheep. Hence - the building of sturdy pens, and
special barns in which to hold these pedigree animals.

Little space would have been required for their confinement as, in those early years, no more than a dozen or so animals, on each occasion, were ever exported for this breeding program. This may have been how those old buildings first came into existence.

Eventually, over a period of time, they would simply have been known by the name 'Canada Barn;' the label of which has survived through to today.

Best wishes.
David

I can now only kick myself for not asking for David's expertise earlier!

David's story is indeed intriguing. The Findon Canada Barn below the eastern side of Cissbury Ring is part of the Cissbury Estate owned by the Wyatt family for many centuries. They deal only in sheep and always have done as far as I know. I wonder if this helps confirm the theory.

I am positive that all of you will be most interested to hear these views if you have walked the track passed Canada Barn and this can bring closure to my little “mystery” of Findon's Canada Barn.

John Greves now living in Walton on Thames emailed to say...."Dear Valerie....Canada/New Zealand/Australia/America ....Appears since the early Eighteen Hundreds South Down sheep were a popular export to the Colonies.

Can see the need to gather in "best of the flock" .... destination specific barn seems a bit odd.

Research long shown most animals thrive best in the open ....

Buildings need to be regularly cleaned and disinfected .... ventilation big problem even today .... suspect a serious factor in spreading TB.

Barns best kept for storing and processing grain, fodder and machinery.

Regards John".

It was at this juncture that I pointed out that perhaps the so-called 'Canada Barns' only held the sheep fodder. Maybe the farmers did not know about TB in those days... this was not researched until the 1880s. Perhaps only young lambs were living inside the barns for a few weeks. It could have been that the rams for export were comfortably housed in wattle pens adjoining the outside of the building prior to exportation.

Dennis Weston of Findon remembers

the original Canada Barn below Cissbury Ring...... Dennis tells me that as a boy recalls the flint and timber Canada Barn with a yard close to the site of the modern barn. He told me an added item of interest that I didn't know...... there was in the past a dried up pond beside the barn.

This could have been a most picturesque spot in days gone by.

Dennis says that the flint and slated roofed building was standing before the Second World War but was ruined during wartime and he and other lads played in it around the 1940s and helped with the demolition. It is a shame but, unfortunately, Dennis does not have a photograph of the old building.