Findon
Findon maps (2 available)
Map of West Sussex
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
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Findon books (26 available)
- 1 photos on Findon appear in 2 Frith books - View photos of Findon
- Read extracts and see photos from these books on Findon and West Sussex
Findon memories
Read and share memories of Findon and West Sussex inspired by Frith photos
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You can also read memories of nearby places in West Sussex below.
West Sussex memories
Clapham Church
I visited Clapham and the Church in the summer of 1999. At different periods during the 1800's my Collins family lived and worked there. Thomas Collins of Burpham was buried at Clapham on September 13th, 1855 at 55. His first wife Charlotte Ayling is also buried there 1822 and his second wife who remarried and known as Sarah Mills Collins TUESLEY in 1876.
A memory of Clapham contributed by Gail Collins
When I was a little girl
When I was a little girl, 1959/1960, my Nan and her husband Mr Fred Pay lived at 2 Newtown Cottages. I can remember the house being tiny, we went in 'round the back' and the kitchen was tiny with a couple of steps up to the living room. From the kitchen a tiny staircase went up to the two bedrooms.
In those days it always seemed warm and we sat out in the yard. A lady that lived in one of the other cottages used to make peg dollys, she gave one to me and showed me how they were made. I don't ever remember playing in the gardens of the cottage but do remember going to the top of a ...read more here
A memory of Washington contributed by corinne hazell
Worthing Front or Silverstone
In about 1935, when I was 5 years old, my Grandfather used to take us all on gentle rides into the South Downs from his home at 11 Gaisford Road in his circa 1930 Hillman Minx. The beloved Minx was not turbo-charged and could probably manage to reach 50mph downhill following a scintillating acceleration to 40mph in about 5 minutes. My grandfather was well into his seventies and had only learned to drive following his retirement to Worthing. He had never indulged in beating the traffic lights down the Cromwell Road in London. Gently was his style and , perhaps anticipating my later BMW 3 -series boy- racing in London, I used to sit in the lovely rear leather seat secretly ...read more here
A memory of Worthing contributed by Cedric Marie
The Sompting General Supply Stores.
I have a photocopy of a photograph of the General Supply Stores, Sompting, dated around 1913, showing the owners, J and A White, proudly standing outside, one with a little dog at his feet, the other holding his bicycle. They were my grandfather, Walter John White and his brother, Alfred. My father, John Alfred Kelsey White, was born at the Stores in 1913. The photograph shows the Stores very much as it was in 1955, although the part next to the wall on the left of the shop has not been built yet. There is an advert for the Worthing Red Book in the window and a sign for Nectar Tea hanging outside.
A memory of Sompting contributed by Sally Goodenough
Extracts From Findon & West Sussex books
Much of the downland around Findon, at the southern end of the same 'wind-gap' in the South Downs, was for centuries an open sheep-walk. It is well known for its sheep fair on Nepcote Green, and for its racehorse training stables - these sustain a flourishing business for one of the few surviving blacksmiths in the area.
An extract from from"Sussex Revisited Photographic Memories".
Findon is on the top of the Downs, just north of Worthing, and was
noted for an annual sheep fair. Now horse breeding and training is an
important local activity. Findon Place is a manor house built in the 13th
century and extended around the year 1740, with extensive stables
added in 1800. Cissbury Ring is an Iron Age fort, with flint mines, 602
feet up on the Downs to the east.The Post Office has a pillar-box with
a sign on top with an arrow pointing to the entrance a few feet away.
An extract from from"Villages of Sussex Pocket Album".
The buildings on the corner of High Street and The Broadway
were named Warwick Mansions. This commemorated the fact that
in 1901, they were erected on the site of old Warwick House, which
had been demolished a few years earlier. The trees and flint wall in the
photograph marked the southern boundary of the Warwick estate.
These were retained as a feature when part of the Brighton Road
was widened on either side and renamed The Broadway. A Worthing
Directory for 1919 records the three visible shops at ground level (on
the left of photograph 68989) as Colin Moore, a perambulator depot
(behind the balustrade), Ivens, Kelletts and Childs, chemists and
F C Whittington, bootmaker. Although the buildings remain virtually
unchanged today, the trees and wall were removed in 1928.
An extract from from"Worthing Town and City Memories".
During the 1920s and 30s, Worthing continued to rapidly expand. By 1937 the
town was being promoted as both a summer and winter resort, and hotels now
occupied much of the sea front and the area behind it.
The Beach Hotel had opened at 4 Marine Parade in 1915, expanding into
the whole parade by 1936, when the original red-brick houses that had, in
part, comprised The Prince Albert Convalescent Home were remodelled in
cement Deco-style.
Many of the Victorian boarding houses had been converted into hotels,
and most of the modern hotels illustrated date from this period, albeit trading
under different names.
Although Worthing initially benefited from an increase in the number of
holidaymakers after the Second World War, the town continued to lack any large
hotels. By the early 1970s, Worthing, like most English seaside resorts, was having
to compete with package holidays abroad. Many of the town’s hotels tried to fill
their rooms by becoming conference venues.
An extract from from"Worthing Town and City Memories".
The Corporation’s policy of providing a sufficient number of public parks and recreation grounds for both residents and visitors was actively
pursued during this period of expansion. In excess of fifteen additional areas for outdoor recreation were provided and by 1938 there were seven
separate recreation grounds (amounting to fifty acres) and ten public parks recorded in the borough. Several of these combine formal gardens
and walks with sports facilities.
During the 1930s two additional bowling greens were laid out at separate locations within the borough, one at Marine Gardens in 1930
(see W147157) and one at Church House Grounds in 1937. Marine Gardens, a small park located in West Parade between Grand Avenue and
Wallace Avenue, was laid out on two and a half acres of land in 1930 and contains ornamental gardens (see W147146), a pavilion, one putting
green and one bowling green. Over the years it has maintained its popularity and is still well attended.
An extract from from"Worthing Town and City Memories".