Durrington is a neighbourhood of

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the borough of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, England.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in Sussex, in the

rape of Bramber The Rape of Bramber (also known as Bramber Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. It is the smallest Sussex rape by area. Bramber is a former barony whose original seat wa ...

, it is situated near the A27 road, northwest of the town centre. Since 1992 it has been home to the community-led Durrington Festival.

History

Durrington means 'Dēora's farmstead', Dēora presumably being the name of a Saxon settler.Glover, Judith (1997), Sussex Place-Names: Their Origins and Meanings Countryside Books In common with many neighbouring settlements during the Saxon era, the local people also had land in the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the ...

, which would have been used for seasonal pasture for animals. Their land was at 'Dēoringa wīc' (modern-day Drungewick, in the parish of

Loxwood Loxwood is a small village and civil parish with several outlying settlements, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, within the Low Weald. The Wey and Arun Canal passes to the East and South of the village. This Civil Parish is at t ...

). Durrington was first recorded in 934 as a Saxon estate. In that year,

King Athelstan King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

granted some of the land to one of his

thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there ...

s. By the time of the

Domesday survey Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

in 1086, Robert le Sauvage—

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of nearby Broadwater—held the land. The civil and ecclesiastical parish was smaller than the Saxon estate: it extended for about from north to south and from east to west. The Domesday survey recorded that Durrington had "a church, eight acres of meadow and a wood of ten hogs". The church had existed since Saxon times, no later than the 11th century, but little is known of it: the structure was probably built of plaster,

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

and

thatch Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

, in common with other churches of the era. It was dedicated to St Nicholas. In about 1265, the church was rebuilt and rededicated to

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

. The new design, a simple two-cell building, had a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

separated by a rood screen, above which was a

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

. There was also a wall-mounted stone pulpit, a stone altar, a series of tall, pointed windows high in the walls, an unadorned stone font and a short wooden

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

—little more than an extended belfry—extending from the nave roof. The new church was still a chapelry of St Andrew's Church at nearby

West Tarring Tarring, officially West Tarring, is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road north-west of the town centre. It is called "West Tarring", or less commonly "Tarring Peverell", to di ...

: this meant that it was served and administered by clergy from that church, and most of the parish's

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more ...

s were paid to St Andrew's. It was not an independent

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

. In 1643, during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

, St Symphorian's Church—Durrington's Anglican church—was partially destroyed by

Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who ...

soldiers after the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

vicar had supposedly tried to gain support for the Royalist cause amongst his parishioners. The church remained ruined until 1915 when a new church was built, which included some of the original stones. Durrington was also the location of the first

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

formed under the

Civil Partnership Act 2004 The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (c 33) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced by the Labour government, which grants civil partnerships in the United Kingdom the rights and responsibilities very similar to those in civil ...

, taking place on 5 December 2005 between Matthew Roche and Christopher Cramp at

St Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

' Hospice.

Durrington today

In 1992, the annual Durrington festival was founded by residents Dave Butler and Dave Collard. The festival is "a week long celebration of what Durrington has to offer". The festival committee, composed of local residents and led by Peter Bloxham, aims to "provide opportunities for a diverse range of performers, groups, charities and business to promote what is good about living and working in Durrington". The festival in June 2014 featured "music, theatre, flowers and faith". It was one week long and culminated in a carnival, fayre and

fireworks display Fireworks are a class of Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a l ...

at Pond Lane Recreation Park.

Governance

Modern Durrington lies within the borough of Worthing and lies mostly in the Durrington ward. Neighbouring West Durrington forms Castle ward. Each ward has two councillors which represent their area on

Worthing Borough Council Worthing Borough Council is a district council in the county of West Sussex, based in the borough of Worthing. The borough council was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 out of the existing Worthing Municipal Council, which also ...

. For elections to

West Sussex County Council West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains seven district and borough councils, and 158 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 7 ...

most of the area is represented by the Durrington & Salvington electoral division. The area is represented at Westminster by the Worthing West constituency. Until the 16th century when it became a parish in its own right, Durrington formed part of the parish of

. The parish of Durrington was enlarged in 1902 to include parts of the parishes of Tarring and Broadwater, including Salvington. Durrington became part of the borough of Worthing in 1929.

Transport

The nearest railway station is

Durrington-on-Sea railway station Durrington-on-Sea railway station is in Goring, a suburb of Worthing in the county of West Sussex. It is down the line from Brighton. The station is operated by Southern. Durrington-on-Sea railway station lies about south of the Worthing ...

in Goring, about to the south.

References

External links

{{authority control Suburbs of Worthing