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The King's England - Sussex

by Arthur Mee

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Findon

Extract from Findon

The Old Shepherd of the Downs

FINDON. It lies in the hollow of four Downs, with Cissbury Ring towering over it and Chanctonbury Ring on the skyline. He who mounts the hills and walks between the Rings has a picture of England that will not leave him. If he should find the old shepherd there with his crook and his hundred sheep, and the dog that knows each one, he will see something of the life of the Downs for generation after generation. We thought of the days when Jacob grazed his uncle Laban’s sheep as we walked about this wonderful height above Findon, for it was like a Bible scene; not even a car invading this solitude could move an eyelid of the shepherd with his crook: he walked slowly on, now and then controlling his sheep with a sign to his dog, turning neither right nor left, speaking no word, shepherding his flock as his fathers had done for centuries before him.

Down in Findon the fine old barn-like roof stretches across two naves in the church; the roof has been there 500 years and is almost unique. This church, reached by a drive through a park, was started by the Normans and has one of the most impressive decorated arches they left behind them. Its bow is about ten feet wide, and within it is a beautiful medallion as neat and clean as when a Norman craftsman carved it.

There are three marvellous benches 12 feet long on which people have probably sat for 500 years; there is an old wooden screen, a battered font of the 12th or 13th century, a sanctus bell still hanging over the chancel arch, a window there (which is very rare), and in the chancel a fine stone with a cross to a rector of 1374. The two sedilia seats have a doorway between them, exceedingly rare. The wall panelling behind the altar has blue tiles with angels copied from Italian masters, and the reredos has painted panels.

The best window in the church is a lancet, with a lovely blue Madonna, to two brothers who fell in the first two years of the war and lie in foreign lands.

Here lies William Frankland who lived at the great house Muntham Court, and filled it with wonderful mechanical devices.

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