Two great hills dominate the village of Findon, Church Hill
and Cissbury Ring.
Located on Church
Hill are some of the oldest flint mines in the UK and nestled at the
foot of the hill is St
John the Baptist Church, which is separated from the village by the
busy A24 Findon bypass.
The photograph above shows the view from Cissbury Ring
looking out over Findon Village towards Church Hill,
and in the general direction of some other important Neolithic flint
mining sites such as Tolmere, Blackpatch and Harrow Hill. There are
other flint mine sites located at High Salvington,
which is out of sight to the left of the picture.
The undulations in the middle foreground are the remains of some of
the 270 backfilled Neolithic flint mine shafts that
have been recorded at the site of this Iron Age Hillfort, which was
occupied by the Romans.
So people have occupied this part of the South
Downs for thousands of years. Evidence for flint extraction at Cissbury is both extensive and
diverse, with at least 20 mine shafts having been examined
archaeologically, between 1873 and 1956.
At the edge of the ring, where the ground drops away to the
valley below, can be seen the remains of the rampart that surrounds the
hillfort. The ditch that forms part of those defences is beyond the crest, thus hidden from
view.
The image above, which consists of four photographs that have
been joined together, shows the panoramic view of Findon Village and Cissbury Ring that can be seen
looking eastwards, from the top of Church Hill.
These photographs were
taken during December 2004. If you look carefully, you should be able
to see frost lying in the shaded parts of some fields. Download times
will vary according to the file size and the bandwidth of your
connection to the Internet. The greater the enlargement, the bigger the
file to be downloaded.
The left-hand end of the panorama shows the view looking
northwards. The right-hand of the panorama shows the view looking
southwards, with
Findon Valley in the middle
distance and Worthing and the English Channel in the far distance,
approximately 4 miles away. The ramparts of
Cissbury Ring can be seen quite
clearly. The extensive eastern slopes of
High Salvington, which is
surmounted by a TV mast, can be seen at the extreme right-hand end of
the panorama.
At least 26 mine shafts have been recorded from the Church
Hill site. Unfortunately, the amount of plough damage on the hill now
makes it difficult to determine how many more mines existed there. It
is likely that more existed, however this plough damage means they may
never be found. David Field has suggested that mining probably started
on the steeper eastern slopes of the hill, where the flint may have
first outcropped, and gradually moved towards the summit.
Ernest Willet investigated the upper levels of pits on Church
Hill between 1868 and 1870. During the early 1930s, the Earthwork
Subcommittee of the Worthing Archaeological
Society examined a series of irregular hollows along the
north-western side of Church Hill opposite Tolmere Pond, but results
were disappointing.
Meanwhile, John Pull excavated flint mines at
Church Hill between 1932 and 1939. Summaries of his investigations were
published in the Sussex County Magazine. He
returned after the end of WW2, in 1946, when the British Army left the
area, and continued work investigating mines and round barrows on
Church Hill, and at Tolmere, until 1952.
Radiocarbon dates from the Sussex site suggest that flint
mining began on the South Downs at the end of the
fifth millennium BC, possibly as early as 4,200 BC, and continued to the
end of the fourth millennium. By comparison, flint mining at
Grimes Graves, in Norfolk, is
thought to have begun and ended in the third millennium BC.
Unfortunately, artefacts from the various archaeological excavations have
been widely dispersed, but the best collections may be found in
Worthing Museum & Art Gallery,
Museum of Sussex Archaeology, Barbican House in Lewes and the
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.
Neolithic refers to the cultural
period that lasted in SW Asia from about 9000 to 6000 BC and in Europe
from about 4000 to 2400 BC. It was characterized by primitive crop
growing and stock rearing and the use of polished stone, flint tools
and weapons.
Other flint mines, upon the chalkland of the South Downs, are located at Nore
Down, Stoke Down, Long Down, Harrow Hill, Blackpatch, Tolmere, High
Salvington, Cissbury and Mount Carvey.
Flintknapping
Flint was one of the most commonly
used materials for the manufacture of stone tools during the Stone Age,
as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes, or blades
(depending in the shape), when struck by another hard object (such as a
hammerstone made of another material). This process is called
knapping.
Flint Mines in Neolithic Britain
written by Miles Russell
published by Tempus Publishing Ltd in 2000
ISBN 0-7524-1481-X
Hardback 160 pages
Illustrated with 51 line drawings, 46 black & white
photographs and
30 colour photographs
Flint: The Versatile Stone
written by H J Mason
published by Providence Press in 1978
Reprinted in 1992
Paperback 48 pages
Illustrated with 8 line drawings and 27 black & white
photographs
Masters of Flint
written by A J Forrest
published by Terence Dalton Ltd in 1983
ISBN 0 86138 015 0 (hardback)
ISBN 0 86138 016 9 (paperback)
Paperback 134 pages
Illustrated with 6 line drawings and 58 black & white
photographs
Prehistoric Flint Mines
written by Robin Holgate
published by Shire Publications Ltd in 1991
ISBN 0 7478 0141 X
Paperback 56 pages
Illustrated with 15 line drawings and 13 black & white
photographs
The Neolithic Flint Mines of England
written by Martyn Barber, David Field and Peter Topping
published by English Heritage Publications in
1999
ISBN 1 873592 41 8
106 pages
15 black & white illustrations
Turn right at the top, to make your way to the very top of the hill, or left
to walk towards High Salvington for impressive views of
Findon Valley,
Cissbury Ring and Worthing.
[aerial photograph & map]
Nearest car park
Travelling northwards on the A24, soon after passing through Findon Valley
you reach a dual carriageway, look out for
Wyevale Garden Centre,
which is the first turning on the left. Leave your car in the car park and thenmake your way to the top of the hill on foot.
[aerial photograph & map]
Distance from Findon
Village (as the
crow flies) is about 1 kilometre (ie 0.6 miles)
