This is Findon Village - The Mystery of The Leighs

THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE ― These Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and are progressively growing to be the only record of life around Findon, West Sussex, England. Everyday stories about real people..... in fact, a potted history of the village. The topics today, are the history of tomorrow.

In November 2011 I came across a photograph taken in Findon that presented a bit of a problem. At first I could not place the scene.

Then it suddenly dawned on me where it was...... so instead of taking the dogs for a walk in the fields at Findon Valley I set off on foot up the road.....

The original old photograph is of Steep Lane......top end (eastern end) abutting Nepcote Green with Church Hill looming away in the distance. I am unsure of the date of the original photograph but it appears to have been taken before the other houses and bungalows were built in Steep Lane.

The first house in the picture is The Leighs.... now much altered and extended and up until recently resided in by the late Miss Thelma Frederick. Since living in Findon I have watched the grounds became very overgrown as the years went by.

Post 1912.....Above is the earliest photograph I can find of "The Leighs".... with the Wattle House on Nepcote Green in the distance. "Thistledown" at the top of the Green is in the far distance.

I could not get all of The Leighs in my modern day photograph because of the trees still overhanging the lane.

Above is the very much extended side view of The Leighs (where unbelievably the sloping lean-to roof was once situated in the old photograph).

The up to date rear view of the Leighs ......................................................................and its neighbour Nepcroft.

In 2010 The Leighs was sold for £575,000. and since that time has been undergoing yet more building work and much of the foliage has been removed leaving the house exposed this winter.

Pam Stepney in Findon emailed to say....."Hello Valerie...I see you have pictures of the Leighs. I think I am right in saying that the property was last renovated in the late
1950`s /early 1960`s for the eldest daughter of the people living at Nepcroft next door.

Her husband was a diplomat and they had not been married long when she was tragically killed by a bomb at a cocktail party in somewhere like Aden.

I was grateful for the added information and it added a little more meat to the bones.

I did not dream I would ferret out so much when I was first presented with the photograph and could not place the location!

A visit to the churchyard gave a little more information and revealed a sad story.....

Judith Stuart was killed by a Czech-made jumping-jack bomb concealed in a bookcase and her body was sent back to Findon with her husband who was a High Commission official.

Doug Attrell in Goring emailed to say...."Dear V...After reading your article about The Leighs I was left wondering exactly what happened in Aden in February 1967. Google came to the rescue.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19670304&id=A2ggAAAAIBAJ&sjid=y2YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2213,356868

At the end of January 2012, Peggy Greenway emailed..."Hello Valerie...It was very interesting to see your old photo of The Leighs. Permission to develop The Leighs was given 24th April 1964.

We believe Mr & Mrs Stuart sold the house to Mrs Durling who sold it on to Miss Frederick in June 1973.

We do not know the age of the original house but understand that there was a sale in November 1921.

Best Wishes....Peggy Greenway"