Worthing () is a seaside town in
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 ar ...
, England, at the foot of the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
, west of
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, and east of
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
. With a population of 111,400
and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the
Brighton and Hove built-up area
The Brighton and Hove Built-up area or Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation has a population of 474,485 (2011 census), making it England's 12th largest conurbation. This was an increase of around 3% from the 2001 population of 461,181. Na ...
, the
15th most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Since 2010, northern parts of the borough, including the
Worthing Downland Estate, have formed part of the
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hamp ...
. In 2019, the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
Worthing Pier
Worthing Pier is a public pleasure pier in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson, it was opened on 12 April 1862 and remains open to the public. The pier originally was a simple promenade deck long and wide. In 1888 ...
was named the best in Britain.
Lying within the borough, the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
hill fort
A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...
of
Cissbury Ring
Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort.
Cissbury Ring is ...
is one of Britain's largest. The recorded
history of Worthing began with the
Domesday Book
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 ...
. It is
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 ...
part of
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
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 was th ...
;
Goring, which forms part of the
rape of Arundel
The Rape of Arundel (also known as Arundel Rape) is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England.
The population of the rape of Arundel was 22,478 in 1801, falling to 24,276 in 1811.
Locatio ...
, was incorporated in 1929. Worthing was a small
mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment.
...
fishing hamlet for many centuries until, in the late 18th century, it developed into an elegant
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
seaside resort and attracted the well-known and wealthy of the day. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the area was one of Britain's chief
market gardening
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to ...
centres.
Modern Worthing has a large service industry, particularly in financial services. It has three theatres and one of Britain's oldest cinemas, the
Dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
. Writers
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
and
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
lived and worked in the town.
Etymology
Worthing was recorded as a settlement in the
Domesday Book
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 ...
. It was in the hundred of Brightford and the county of Sussex and is listed as ''Ordinges'' or ''Mordinges''. The
Tenant-in-chief
In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as op ...
was
William de Braose. It was subsequently known as ''Wuroininege'', ''Wurdingg'', ''Wording'' or ''Wurthing'', ''Worthinges'', ''Wyrthyng'', ''Worthen'' and ''Weorðingas''.
The modern name was first documented in AD 1297.
The suffix probably replaced an earlier ending of a different form
OE:. Meaning "family, people or followers of" (a man called ).
The suffix ~ing is mainly confined to coastal areas of Sussex, reflecting the consolidation of territory in the 6th and 7th centuries by the
South Saxons
la, Regnum Sussaxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the South Saxons
, capital =
, era = Heptarchy
, status = Vassal of Wessex (686–726, 827–860)Vassal of Mercia (771–796)
, governm ...
.
History
From around 4000BC, the South Downs above Worthing was Britain's earliest
and largest flint-mining area,
with four of the UK's 14 known flint mines lying within of the centre of Worthing.
An excavation at Little High Street dates the earliest remains from Worthing town centre to the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
. There is also an important Bronze Age hill fort on the western fringes of the modern borough at
Highdown Hill
Highdown Hill is a hill in the South Downs, with a height of . The summit of the hill and its western slopes lie in the parish of Ferring in the Arun district, while its eastern slopes lie in the borough of Worthing. It is a popular spot for pi ...
.
During the
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...
, one of Britain's largest hill forts was built at Cissbury Ring. The area was part of the civitas of the
Regni
The Regni, Regini, or Regnenses were a Tribe which occupied modern West Sussex, East Sussex, south-west Kent, eastern Surrey, and the eastern edges of Hampshire. Their Tribal centre was at Noviomagus_Reginorum (Chichester in West_Sussex), close ...
during the
Romano-British
The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...
period. Several of the borough's roads date from this era and lie in a grid layout known as 'centuriation'. A Romano-British farmstead once stood in the centre of the town, at a site close to
Worthing Town Hall
Worthing Town Hall, or New Town Hall, is a municipal building in Chapel Road, Worthing, West Sussex, England. The town hall, which is a meeting place of Worthing Borough Council, is a Grade II listed building. Located at Chapel Road in the cent ...
. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the area became part of the
kingdom of Sussex
la, Regnum Sussaxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the South Saxons
, capital =
, era = Heptarchy
, status = Vassal of Wessex (686–726, 827–860)Vassal of Mercia (771–796)
, governm ...
. The place names of the area, including the name Worthing itself, date from this period.
Worthing remained an agricultural and fishing hamlet for centuries until the arrival of wealthy visitors in the 1750s.
Princess Amelia stayed in the town in 1798 and the fashionable and wealthy continued to stay in Worthing, which became a town in 1803. The town expanded and elegant developments such as
Park Crescent and Liverpool Terrace were begun. The area was a stronghold of smugglers in the 19th century and was the site of rioting by the
Skeleton Army
The Skeleton Army was a diffuse group, particularly in Southern England, that opposed and disrupted The Salvation Army's marches against alcohol in the late 19th century. Clashes between the two groups led to the deaths of several Salvationis ...
in the 1880s.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
holidayed in the town in 1893 and 1894, writing the ''
Importance of Being Earnest'' during his second visit. The town was home to several literary figures in the 20th century, including
Nobel prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
-winner
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
. On 9 October 1934 violent confrontations took place in the town between protestors and
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...
's
British Union of Fascists
The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...
which subsequently became known as the
Battle of South Street. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Worthing was home to several allied military divisions in preparation for the
D-Day
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D ...
landings.
Worthing became the world's 229th
Transition Town
The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroots, grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, Global warming, climate destruction, and eco ...
in October 2009. The project explored the town's transition to life after oil, and was established by local residents as a way of planning the town's Energy Descent Action Plan.
Governance
Local government for the borough of Worthing is shared between
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 ...
and
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 ...
in a
two-tier structure. Worthing Borough Council partners with neighbouring local authorities, as part of
Adur and Worthing Councils and the
Greater Brighton City Region
The Greater Brighton City Region is a city region in the south of England centred on Brighton and incorporating seven local government districts in East Sussex and West Sussex. The Greater Brighton Economic Board was created in April 2014 to ov ...
. The borough is divided into 13 wards, with 11 returning three councillors and two returning two councillors to form a total council of 37 members. The borough is unparished. At the
2022 election the
Labour Party won control of the council for the first time, ending 18 years of
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
administration.
The town currently returns nine councillors from nine single-member electoral divisions to West Sussex County Council, which is responsible for services including school education, social care and highways. The County Council has been controlled by the Conservative Party since 1974, with the exception of the period 1993—97 when the council was under
no overall control.
Since 2014, Worthing has also been within the area of the
Greater Brighton City Region
The Greater Brighton City Region is a city region in the south of England centred on Brighton and incorporating seven local government districts in East Sussex and West Sussex. The Greater Brighton Economic Board was created in April 2014 to ov ...
. The borough is represented on the City Region's Economic Board by the leader of the Borough Council.
The town has two
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs):
Tim Loughton
Timothy Paul Loughton, (born 30 May 1962) is a British politician and former banker who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Worthing and Shoreham since the 1997 general election. A member of the Conservative Party, he was Par ...
(Conservative) for
East Worthing and Shoreham
East Worthing and Shoreham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Tim Loughton of the Conservative Party.
Boundaries
The District of Adur, and the Borough of Worthing wards of Broadwater, Gais ...
, a former Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families;
and
Peter Bottomley
Sir Peter James Bottomley (born 30 July 1944) is a British Conservative Party politician who has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) since 1975 when elected for Woolwich West, serving until it was abolished before the 1983 general election. ...
(Conservative) for
Worthing West,
who following the
2019 general election became the
Father of the House of Commons
Father of the House is a title that has been traditionally bestowed, unofficially, on certain members of some legislatures, most notably the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. In some legislatures the title refers to the longest continuously- ...
. At the
2017 general election, the East Worthing and Shoreham seat became a
marginal seat
A marginal seat or swing seat is a constituency held with a small majority in a legislative election, generally one conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada, they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat. The ...
for the first time, with both seats having been held by their incumbents since the seats' creation before the
1997 general election. From 1945 to 1997 Worthing returned one MP. Since 1945 Worthing has always returned Conservative MPs.
Until 1945 Worthing formed part of the
Horsham and Worthing parliamentary constituency.
Geography
Worthing is situated in West Sussex in
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England at the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, first level of International Territorial Level, ITL for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the counties of england, ...
, south of London and west of
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
.
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 ...
within
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, 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 was th ...
, Worthing is built on the
South Coast Plain
The South Coast Plain is a natural region in England running along the central south coast in the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex and Hampshire.
It has been designated as National Character Area No. 126 by Natural England. The NCA h ...
facing the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. To the north of the urban area are the chalk hills of the
South Downs
The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...
, which form a
National Park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
. The suburbs of
High Salvington and
Findon Valley climb the lower slopes of the Downs, reaching up to the contour line, whereas the highest point in the borough reaches at
Cissbury Ring
Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort.
Cissbury Ring is ...
. Land at Cissbury Ring and the adjacent publicly owned
Worthing Downland Estate together form a area of
open access land
The freedom to roam, or "everyman's right", is the general public's right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness ...
within the borough. Further high points are at West Hill (139m) north-west of
High Salvington and at
Highdown Hill
Highdown Hill is a hill in the South Downs, with a height of . The summit of the hill and its western slopes lie in the parish of Ferring in the Arun district, while its eastern slopes lie in the borough of Worthing. It is a popular spot for pi ...
(81m) on the boundary with
Ferring
Ferring is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It is part of the built-up area of Worthing and is accessed along the A259 road west of the town - comprising North Down Farm and Highdown Hi ...
.
Cissbury Ring forms the only
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
in the borough.
With a population of about 200,000,
[The combined population in 2011 of the Worthing urban subdivision (109,120), the Littlehampton subdivision (55,706), Sompting (8,561) and Lancing (18,810) was 192,197] the
Centre for Cities
The Centre for Cities is an independent, non-partisan urban policy research unit and a charity registered in England. The Centre's main goal is to understand how and why economic growth and change takes place in the United Kingdom's cities.
His ...
identifies the wider
primary urban area A primary urban area (PUA) is an area defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom as a statistical tool for analysing the major cities of England, originating as part of their '' State of the English Cities'' ...
of Worthing as one of the 63 largest cities and towns in the UK. Extending from Littlehampton to Lancing, the primary urban area is roughly equivalent to the present day borough and the area administered from 1933 to 1974 as the
Worthing Rural District
Worthing Rural District was a rural district in West Sussex, England from 1933 to 1974. It comprised an area to the north, west and east, but did not include the borough of Worthing. Its area encompassed the land in southern Sussex between the ...
, or the 01903 Worthing telephone code area. Worthing forms the second-largest part of the
Brighton and Hove built-up area
The Brighton and Hove Built-up area or Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation has a population of 474,485 (2011 census), making it England's 12th largest conurbation. This was an increase of around 3% from the 2001 population of 461,181. Na ...
, England's 12th largest conurbation, with a population in 2011 of over 470,000.
The borough of Worthing is bordered by the West Sussex
local authority districts of
Arun in the north and west, and
Adur in the east.
Worthing is situated on a mix of two beds of sedimentary rock. The large part of the town, including the town centre is built upon
chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...
(part of the
Chalk Group
The Chalk Group (often just called the Chalk) is the lithostratigraphic unit (a certain number of rock strata) which contains the Upper Cretaceous limestone succession in southern and eastern England. The same or similar rock sequences occur acr ...
), with a bed of
London clay
The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...
found in a band heading west from Lancing through Broadwater and Durrington.
Worthing lies roughly midway between the Rivers
Arun and
Adur. The
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...
ed
Teville Stream and the partially-culverted
Ferring Rife run through the town. One of the Ferring Rife's sources is in
Titnore Wood, a
Site of Nature Conservation Interest
Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), Site of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and regionally important geological site (RIGS) are designations used by local authorities in the United Kingdom for sites of substantive local nature ...
and one of the last remaining blocks of
ancient woodland
In the United Kingdom, an ancient woodland is a woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 16 ...
on the coastal plain.
The development along the coastal strip is interrupted by strategic gaps at the borough boundaries in the east and west, referred to as the
Goring Gap
The Goring Gap is the narrow valley, occupied by the River Thames, between the Chiltern Hills and the Berkshire Downs. It is approximately upstream of Reading and downstream of Oxford. The river here delimits Berkshire from Oxfordshire. The vi ...
and the
Sompting Gap. Each gap falling largely outside the borough boundaries.
The borough of Worthing contains no
nature reserves
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
: the nearest is Widewater Lagoon in Lancing.
Marine environment
Lying some off the coast of Worthing, the ''Worthing Lumps'' are a series of underwater chalk cliff faces, up to high. The lumps, described as "one of the best chalk reefs in Europe" by the
Marine Conservation Society
The Marine Conservation Society is a UK based not-for-profit organization working with businesses, governments and communities to clean and protect the oceans. Founded in 1983, the group claims to be working towards "cleaner, better-protected, h ...
, are home to rare fish such as
blennies
Blenny (from the Greek and , mucus, slime) is a common name for many types of fish, including several families of percomorph marine, brackish, and some freshwater fish sharing similar morphology and behaviour. Six families are considered "true ...
and the
lesser spotted dogfish
The small-spotted catshark (''Scyliorhinus canicula''), also known as the sandy dogfish, lesser-spotted dogfish, rough-hound or morgay (in Scotland and Cornwall), is a catshark of the family Scyliorhinidae. It is found on the continental shelves ...
.
The site has been declared a Site of Nature Conservation Importance (SNCI) (a site of county importance) by West Sussex County Council.
Since 2013 the area has also formed part of the
Kingmere
Kingmere Marine Conservation Zone is in the English Channel, between and off the West Sussex coast to the south of Littlehampton and Worthing. It covers an area of around .
The MCZ contains two marine Sites of Nature Conservation Interest (S ...
Marine Conservation Zone
A Marine Conservation Zone (MCZ) is a type of marine nature reserve in UK waters. They were established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act (2009) and are areas designated with the aim to protect nationally important, rare or threatened habit ...
. Just south of the shoreline lies remains of what was once an extensive
kelp forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...
which until the 1980s stretched from Bognor Regis to Brighton and covered approximately . With only remaining, the kelp forest is now being supported to recover.
Climate
Worthing has a
temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
climate: its
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
is ''Cfb''. Its mean annual temperature of is similar to that experienced along the Sussex coast, and slightly warmer than nearby areas such as the Sussex Weald.
On most summer afternoons a
sea breeze
A sea breeze or onshore breeze is any wind that blows from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass; it develops due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and dry land. As such, sea breezes ar ...
, sometimes known as ''The Worthing Effect''
by the local watersports community, blows from the south-west, building throughout the morning and peaking generally mid to late afternoon.
Districts
The naming of parts of the town reflect its growth in its formative years of the 19th century. Central parts of the town are made up of the former
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
s of Worthing and
West Worthing, which merged in 1890 when the town gained borough status. This area comprises the town centre,
East Worthing and West Worthing. To the north and west of this area are the former villages of Worthing which have old roots but only became urbanised in the 20th century. These districts sometimes share their names – although not necessarily boundaries – with local electoral
wards
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
and include the former parishes of
Broadwater,
Durrington,
Goring and
(West) Tarring, as well as
Findon Valley, which was formerly part of the parish of
Findon. Other areas within these parishes include
High Salvington,
Offington and
Salvington.
Demography
Population change
According to the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
, Worthing's population increased to an estimated 110,570 in 2019.
Worthing is the second most densely populated local authority area in East and West Sussex, with a population density in 2011 of 33.83 people per hectare.
Worthing underwent dramatic population growth both in the early 19th century as the hamlet had newly become a town and again in the 1880s. The town experienced further growth in the 1930s, and again when new estates were built, using
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
labour, to the west of the town from 1948. The main driver of population growth in Worthing during the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century has been in-migration into Worthing; in particular Worthing is the most popular destination for people moving from the nearby city of
Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
, with significant numbers also moving to the borough from London.
Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time,
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for th ...
ONS population projections 2014 base / projections uplifted by '21-1,800/'26-2,100/'36-2,500 given underestimation at 2016 - 2,250/
Ethnicity
According to the
UK Government
ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd
, image = HM Government logo.svg
, image_size = 220px
, image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg
, image_size2 = 180px
, caption = Royal Arms
, date_es ...
's
2021 census, 91.3% of the population was
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
(85.0%
White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population wa ...
, 0.8%
White Irish
}
White Irish is an ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White Irish population was 1,105,673 or 1.7% of the UK total population.
This total includes the White Irish population estimate for ...
, 0.1% Gypsy/
Irish Traveller
Irish Travellers ( ga, an lucht siúil, meaning "the walking people"), also known as Pavees or Mincéirs (Shelta: Mincéirí), are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group in Ireland.''Questioning Gypsy identity: ethnic na ...
, 0.2%
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
, 5.2%
Other White
The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, S ...
), 2.6% of
mixed ancestry
Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...
(0.9% White and Black Caribbean, 0.5% White and Black African, 0.9% White and Asian, 0.7% Other Mixed), 4.0%
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
(1.0%
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
, 0.2%
Pakistani, 0.7%
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshis ( bn, বাংলাদেশী ) are the citizens of Bangladesh, a South Asian country centered on the transnational historical region of Bengal along the eponymous bay.
Bangladeshi citizenship was formed in 1971, when the ...
, 0.5%
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
, 1.5% Other Asian), 1.2%
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
(0.8% African, 0.2%
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, 0.1%
Other Black
A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betw ...
), 0.2%
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and 0.8% of other ethnic heritage.
The town also has some notable communities from overseas. At the 2021 census 0.79% (864 people) were born in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, 0.70% of its population (778 people) were born in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, 0.68% (753 people) were born in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
and 0.65% (724 people) were born in Romania.
Age
Worthing has a younger population than the other three districts of coastal West Sussex, albeit older than the South East average. In 2006, 26.7% of the population were between 25 and 44 years old, which is a higher proportion compared to the other districts in the coastal West Sussex area.
Over the last 20 years, Worthing has seen the sharpest decline in its population aged 65 years or more with its proportion of the total population falling by 8.1% (7,000 in real terms), at a time when this age group has actually grown across the South East region and elsewhere.
In contrast there have been comparatively significant increases in older families (4.5%) and family makers (4.3%) within the borough.
In 2010 the estimated median age of the population of Worthing was 42.8 years, 3.2 years older than the average for the UK of 39.6 years.
Religion
More people in Worthing identify as Christian than any other religion (43.9% in 2021) and the borough has about 50 active Christian places of worship. Worthing's
Churches Together organisation encourages
ecumenical
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
work and links between the town's churches.
Worthing's first
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
church,
St Paul's, was built in 1812; previously, worshippers had to travel to the ancient
parish church of Broadwater. Residential growth in the 19th century led to several other
Anglican church
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
es opening in the town centre:
Christ Church was started in 1840
and survived a closure threat in 2006;
Arthur Blomfield
Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...
's
St Andrew's Church brought the controversial ''"
High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originate ...
"'' form of worship to the town in the 1880s—its "Worthing Madonna"
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
was particularly contentious;
and Holy Trinity church opened at the same time but with less dispute.
Other Anglican churches were built in the 20th century to serve new residential areas such as
High Salvington and Maybridge; and the ancient villages which were absorbed into Worthing Borough between 1890 and 1929
each had their own church:
Broadwater's had
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
origins,
St Mary's at Goring-by-Sea was
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
(although it was rebuilt in 1837),
St Andrew's at West Tarring was 13th century,
and
St Botolph's at Heene and
St Symphorian's at Durrington were rebuilt from medieval ruins.
All of the borough's churches are in the Rural
Deanery
A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...
of Worthing and the
Diocese of Chichester
The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cathe ...
.
The first Roman Catholic church in Worthing opened in 1864; the centrally located
St Mary of the Angels Church has since been joined by others at East Worthing, Goring-by-Sea and High Salvington. All are in Worthing Deanery in the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton (in la, Dioecesis Arundeliensis-Brichtelmestunensis) is a Latin Church Roman Catholic diocese in southern England covering the counties of Sussex and Surrey (excluding Spelthorne, which is part ...
.
Protestant
Nonconformism
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
has a long history in Worthing: the town's first place of worship was an Independent chapel.
Methodists,
Baptists
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
, the
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Origins and history
The United Reformed Church resulte ...
and
Evangelical Christian
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
groups each have several churches in the borough, and other denominations represented include
Christadelphians
The Christadelphians () or Christadelphianism are a restorationist and millenarian Christian group who hold a view of biblical unitarianism. There are approximately 50,000 Christadelphians in around 120 countries. The movement developed in the U ...
,
Christian Scientists
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
,
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
,
Mormons
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
and
Plymouth Brethren
The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...
.
A
Coptic Orthodox
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي ...
church is also present in the town. The
Salvation Army
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
have been established for more than a century, but their arrival in Worthing prompted large-scale riots involving a group called the
Skeleton Army
The Skeleton Army was a diffuse group, particularly in Southern England, that opposed and disrupted The Salvation Army's marches against alcohol in the late 19th century. Clashes between the two groups led to the deaths of several Salvationis ...
. These continued intermittently for several years in the 1880s.
Other Christian organisations include Worthing Churches Homeless Projects and
Street Pastors.
In 2021, 1.7% of the population of Worthing were Muslim. Since 1994 the Muslim community has had a mosque at the Worthing Islamic Cultural Centre, also known as ''Worthing Masjid'' (Worthing Mosque) or ''Masjid Assalam'' (Mosque of Peace, or Mosque of Allah) which follows the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
tradition and holds prayer, education, and funeral services for the local community.
There are also small communities of
Buddhists
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
(0.6% in 2021) in Worthing, including a community of
Triratna
The Triratna ( pi, or ; sa, or ) is a Buddhist symbol, thought to visually represent the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, the Dhamma, the Sangha).
Symbol
The Triratna symbol is composed of:
* A lotus flower within a circle.
* A dia ...
Buddhists. There is a small Jewish community (0.2% in 2021) and the town had a synagogue in the 1930s. In 2011, 0.7% of the population were
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 0.1% were Sikh and 0.7% followed another religion. A small community of the
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
practises in Worthing. 45.7% claimed no religious affiliation, a figure significantly higher than the average for England and Wales of 37.2%, and 6.3% did not state their religion.
Education
Worthing has 22 primary schools, six secondary schools, one primary and secondary special school, two independent schools, one sixth form college and one college of higher and further education. With campuses in Worthing, Shoreham Airport and Brighton,
Greater Brighton Metropolitan College
Greater Brighton Metropolitan College was a large further education college based in Brighton, Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex on the south coast of England.
It was formed in early 2017 by the merger of Brighton-based City College Brig ...
was formed in a merger between Worthing-based
Northbrook College
Northbrook College is a further education and higher education college with three campuses: Broadwater Campus and West Durrington Campus in Worthing and Shoreham Airport Campus in Shoreham-by-Sea. It was founded as West Sussex College of Art & D ...
and
City College Brighton and Hove and is an affiliate college of
Brighton University
The University of Brighton is a public university based on four campuses in Brighton and Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Its roots can be traced back to 1858 when the Brighton School of Art was opened in the Royal Pavilion. It achieve ...
.
Its West Durrington campus is referred to as University Centre Worthing
and it provides Higher Education to around 1,000 students, most of whom study art and design.
The town's sixth form college,
Worthing College
Worthing College is a sixth form college. The College is situated in Broadwater, in the town of Worthing on the south coast of England.
History
Grammar school
The school directly descends from the former Worthing High School for Boys on ''Bols ...
, is located on a campus in Broadwater.
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 ...
provides six state secondary schools:
Bohunt School Worthing in Broadwater is a
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
academy
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
school,
Durrington High School and
St Andrews High School and
Worthing High School are all
coeducational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
, with St Andrew's taking in girls from 2021.
Davison High School
Davison High School is a girls' Church of England secondary school serving pupils aged 11 to 16 in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In its last inspection the school was judged by OFSTED as Good. The school accommodates around 1080 girls across fi ...
in East Worthing is a girls' school.
St Oscar Romero Catholic School in Goring is a Catholic School.
Our Lady of Sion School
Our Lady of Sion School is an inter-denominational, independent school for male and female students, founded in 1862 and located in Worthing, West Sussex, on the south coast of England.
Based on the teachings of Theodor Ratisbonne and Alphonse ...
in the town centre is an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
school for children aged 3—18.
Economy and regeneration
Worthing's economy is dominated by the service industry, particularly financial services. Major employers include
GSK,
LEMO electronics, Rayner Lenses,
HM Revenue & Customs
HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
, the
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...
and
Southern Water
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately ...
.
In October 2009, GlaxoSmithKline confirmed that 250 employees in Worthing would lose their jobs at the factory, which makes the antibiotics
co-amoxiclav (Augmentin) and
amoxicillin (Amoxin) and hundreds of other products.
, there were approximately 43,000 jobs in the borough.
Although Worthing was voted the most profitable town in Britain for three consecutive years at the end of the 1990s,
the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2009 found that Worthing residents' mean pre-tax pay is only £452 per week, compared to £487 for West Sussex and £535 for South East England as a whole.
In 2008, Worthing was in the top 10 urban areas in England for jobs in each of three key sectors, thought to have a significant impact on economic performance: creative, high-tech industries and knowledge-intensive business services.
The 2012 UK Town and City Index from
Santander UK
Santander UK plc (, ) is a British bank, wholly owned by the Spanish Santander Group. Santander UK plc manages its affairs autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance.
Santander UK is one of the l ...
ranked Worthing as the second highest town or city in the UK for connectivity
and ranked fifth in the UK overall out of 74 towns and cities.
Regeneration
In June 2006, Worthing Borough Council agreed a masterplan for the town's regeneration,
focused on improving the town centre and seafront. A new £150 million development is proposed for
Teville Gate, between Worthing railway station and the A24 at the northern approach to the town centre. It is expected to include two residential towers, a
multiplex cinema
A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into s ...
, hotel and conference and exhibition centre.
The developers are expected to apply for
planning permission
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
in the summer of 2010.
Redevelopment is planned for the Grafton Street car park area;
and the town's major undercover shopping centre, the Guildbourne Centre, may be rebuilt entirely and extended to Union Place, covering the site of the town's former
police station
A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...
.
In the longer term, the area around Worthing's
museum, art gallery, library and town hall—collectively described as the "Worthing Cultural and Civic Hub"—is to be revamped to provide extra facilities and new housing.
In 2009, Worthing Borough Council applied for a £5 million grant from the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
to redevelop and enlarge the museum.
A new £16 million municipal swimming pool, Splash Point Leisure Centre, has been designed by
Stirling Prize
The Royal Institute of British Architects Stirling Prize is a British prize for excellence in architecture. It is named after the architect James Stirling, organised and awarded annually by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The S ...
-winning architects
Wilkinson Eyre
WilkinsonEyre is an international architecture practice based in London, England. In 1983 Chris Wilkinson (architect), Chris Wilkinson founded Chris Wilkinson Architects, he partnered with Jim Eyre (architect), Jim Eyre in 1987 and the practice w ...
; it was opened by Paralympian
Ellie Simmonds in June 2013. It has been proposed that Montague Place is pedestrianised to improve the link between the town centre and the seafront.
Completed regeneration projects include the reopening of the
Dome Cinema in 2007 after major investment from the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
, and a £5.5 million
mixed-use development
Mixed-use is a kind of urban development, urban design, urban planning and/or a zoning type that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some ...
on the site of a former hotel near Teville Gate.
Transport
A
turnpike
Turnpike often refers to:
* A type of gate, another word for a turnstile
* In the United States, a toll road
Turnpike may also refer to:
Roads United Kingdom
* A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...
was opened in 1803 to connect Worthing with London,
and similar toll roads were built later in the 19th century to connect nearby villages.
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...
traffic grew rapidly until 1845, when the opening of a
railway line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United Sta ...
from Brighton brought about an immediate decline.
The former turnpike is now the
A24
A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City.
A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
, a
primary route
The United Kingdom has a network of roads, of varied quality and capacity, totalling about . Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour (mph) or by the use of the national speed limit (NSL) sy ...
which runs northwards to London via
Horsham
Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
and connects Worthing with the
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
. Two east–west routes run through the borough: the
A27 trunk road runs to
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in the east, and to
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
,
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and the
M27 motorway
The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is long and runs between Cadnam and Portsmouth. It was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, providing the largest two urban areas in Hampshire (Southampton and Portsmouth) with a direct mot ...
in the west. The
A259
The A259 is a road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and is the longest Zone 2 A road in Great Britain. The main part of the road connects Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Rye and F ...
follows a coastal route between
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
and
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Most local and long-distance buses are operated by
Stagecoach South
Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...
which has its origins in
Southdown Motor Services
Southdown Motors Services Ltd (although this was the legal name of the company (until 1992) it was normally referred to as Southdown Motor Services) was a bus and coach operator in East and West Sussex and parts of Hampshire, in southern Engl ...
—founded in 1915 with one route to
Pulborough
Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–south ...
.
Stagecoach in the South Downs operates several routes around the town and to
Midhurst
Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester.
The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...
, Brighton and Portsmouth.
The most frequent service, between
Lancing and
Durrington, was branded ''PULSE'' in 2006.
Worthing-based Compass Travel have routes to
Angmering
Angmering is a village and civil parish between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex on the southern edge of the South Downs National Park, England; about two-thirds of the parish (mostly north of the A27 road) fall within the Park. It is ...
, Chichester,
Henfield
Henfield is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, northwest of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester at the road junction of the A281 and A2037. Th ...
and Lancing;
and other companies serve Horsham,
Crawley
Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...
,
Brighton
and intermediate destinations.
National Express coaches
National Express is an intercity and Inter-regional coach operator providing services throughout Great Britain. It is a subsidiary of National Express Group. Most services are subcontracted to local coach companies. The company's head office is ...
run between London's
Victoria Coach Station
Victoria Coach Station is the largest coach station in London, located in the central district of Victoria in the City of Westminster. It serves as a terminus for many medium- and long-distance coach services in the United Kingdom, and is also ...
and Marine Parade.
During the 1920s and 1930s, a fleet of up to 15 converted
Shelvoke and Drewry
Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together ...
dustbin lorries—the
Worthing Tramocars—operated local bus services alongside more conventional vehicles.
The borough has five railway stations:
East Worthing,
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 Hov ...
,
West Worthing,
Durrington-on-Sea and
Goring-by-Sea
Goring-by-Sea, commonly referred to simply as Goring, is a neighbourhood of Worthing and former civil parish, now in Worthing district in West Sussex, England. It lies west of West Worthing, about west of Worthing town centre. Historically in ...
. All are on the
West Coastway Line and are managed and operated by the
Southern train operating company
A train operating company (TOC) is a business operating Passenger Trains, passenger trains on the Rail transport in Great Britain, railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand. TOCs have existed since the Privatisation ...
.
Worthing opened on 24 November 1845 as a temporary terminus of the line from Brighton, which was extended to Chichester the following year and electrified in the 1930s.
Regular services run to destinations such as London,
Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...
, Brighton,
Littlehampton
Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort, and pleasure harbour, and the most populous civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south sout ...
and Portsmouth.
[ ]
Shoreham Airport
Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in the parish of Lancing in West Sussex, England. It has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying i ...
is about east of Worthing. The nearest
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
is
London Gatwick
Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after Hea ...
, about to the northeast.
Public services
Home Office policing in Worthing is provided by the Worthing district of the West Sussex division of
Sussex Police
Sussex Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing in the whole of Sussex. Its jurisdiction covers the ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex. The force is headquartered in Malling House, Lewes, East Sussex.
His ...
.
The district is divided into two neighbourhood policing teams—North and South—for operational purposes. The police station is in Chatsworth Road.
The West Downs division's headquarters is at Centenary House in Durrington.
Worthing's fire station has been in Broadwater since 1962. The borough had been in charge of fire protection since 1891, after several decades in which volunteers provided the service. A fire station was built on Worthing High Street in 1908; it was demolished after the move to Broadwater.
The Worthing and Adur District Team, part of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service,
employs 60 full-time and 18
retained firefighter
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time on call to respond to em ...
s.
Worthing Hospital
Worthing Hospital is a medium-sized District General Hospital (DGH) located in Worthing, West Sussex, England. It is managed by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust.
History
Worthing's first hospital was a dispensary created in 18 ...
is administered by the
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust
University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust is an NHS foundation trust which provides clinical services to people in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, parts of East Sussex and West Sussex. It is abbreviated as UHSx to avoid confusion with Un ...
. The 500-bed facility on Lyndhurst Road was founded in 1881 as an 18-bed infirmary.
It replaced older hospitals on Ann Street and Chapel Road.
Other medical care facilities include two mental health units (Greenacres and Meadowfield Hospital)
[ ] and a 38-bed private hospital in the
Grade II-listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
Goring Hall.
Gas was manufactured in Worthing for nearly 100 years until 1931,
but
Scotia Gas Networks
SGN (previously Scotia Gas Networks) is a British gas distribution company. It manages natural and green gas distribution networks in Scotland and in the south of England. As of 2014/15 SGN operates more than of pipes. In the same period, SGN ...
now supply the town through their Southern Gas Networks division.
Electricity generation took place locally between 1901 and 1961;
EDF Energy
EDF Energy is a British integrated energy company, wholly owned by the French state-owned EDF (Électricité de France), with operations spanning electricity generation and the sale of natural gas and electricity to homes and businesses through ...
now supply the town.
Southern Water
Southern Water is the private utility company responsible for the public wastewater collection and treatment in Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and for the public water supply and distribution in approximately ...
, who have been based in Durrington since 1989, have controlled Worthing's water supply, drainage and sewerage since 1974. The town's first waterworks was built in 1852.
Drainage and sewage disposal was poorly developed in the 19th century, but a fatal
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
outbreak in 1893 prompted investment in sewage works and better pipes.
Voluntary and community groups
There are a number of voluntary and community groups active in the town ranging from small volunteer-led groups to large well established charities. There is a Council for Voluntary Service and a Volunteer Centre funded by the local authority to support voluntary action. In 2003-4 registered charities in Worthing indicated a combined income of £56 million in the submitted accounts to the Charity Commission. The Place Survey conducted in all local authority districts by central government in 2009 found that up to 24,000 people in Worthing described themselves as giving volunteer time in the community.
Culture
Literature
Salvington in Worthing was the birthplace of philosopher and scholar
John Selden
John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned ...
in 1584.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
's unfinished final novel ''
Sanditon
''Sanditon'' (1817) is an unfinished novel by the English writer Jane Austen. In January 1817, Austen began work on a new novel she called ''The Brothers'', later titled ''Sanditon'', and completed eleven chapters before stopping work in mid- ...
'' is thought to have been significantly based on experiences from her stay in Worthing in 1805. Two of
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achie ...
's earliest works were printed in Worthing, including ''
The Necessity of Atheism
"The Necessity of Atheism" is an essay on atheism by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, printed in 1811 by Charles and William Phillips in Worthing while Shelley was a student at University College, Oxford.
An enigmatically signed copy ...
'' in 1811, which resulted in Shelley's expulsion from Oxford University and falling out with his father. Shelley's
grandfather
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...
built
Castle Goring
Castle Goring is a Grade I listed country house in Worthing, in West Sussex, England about northwest of the town centre.
One of Worthing's two Grade I listed buildings (deemed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be of exc ...
and his
father
A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...
was the first chairman of what became
Worthing Council.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
wrote ''
The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
'' while staying in the town in the summer of 1894; its main character Jack/Ernest Worthing is named after it.
In the 1960s, playwright
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
lived wrote ''
The Homecoming
''The Homecoming'' is a two-act play written in 1964 by Harold Pinter and first published in 1965. Its premières in London (1965) and New York (1967) were both directed by Sir Peter Hall. The original Broadway production won the 1967 Tony A ...
'' at his home in Ambrose Place.
Other literary figures to have lived in the town include
W.E. Henley,
W.H. Hudson
William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an English Argentines, Anglo-Argentine author, natural history, naturalist and ornithology, ornithologist.
Life
Hudson was the ...
,
Stephen Spender
Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by the ...
,
Dorothy Richardson
Dorothy Miller Richardson (17 May 1873 – 17 June 1957) was a British author and journalist. Author of ''Pilgrimage'', a sequence of 13 semi-autobiographical novels published between 1915 and 1967—though Richardson saw them as chapters of o ...
,
Edward Knoblock
Edward Knoblock (born Edward Gustavus Knoblauch; 7 April 1874 – 19 July 1945) was a playwright and novelist, originally American and later a naturalised British citizen. He wrote numerous plays, often at the rate of two or three a year, of whic ...
,
Beatrice Hastings,
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is an English poet, playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. Long an activist covering such issues as gay rights and animal rights, she campaigns especially on behalf of authors. She has receive ...
,
Vivien Alcock
Vivien Alcock (23 September 1924 – 11 October 2003) was an English writer of children's books.
Life and career
Alcock was born in Worthing, now in West Sussex, England, and her family moved to Devizes in Wiltshire when she was ten years o ...
,
John Oxenham
John Oxenham ( "John Oxnam", died ) was the first non-Spanish European explorer to cross the Isthmus of Panama in 1575, climbing the coastal cordillera to get to the Pacific Ocean, then referred to by the Spanish as the ''Mar del Sur'' ('Southern ...
and his daughter
Elsie J. Oxenham
Elsie Jeanette Dunkerley (25 November 1880 – 9 January 1960), was an English girls' story writer, who took the name Oxenham as her pseudonym when her first book, '' Goblin Island'', was published in 1907. Her Abbey Series of 38 titles are he ...
.
Film and television
The history of film in Worthing dates back to exhibitions on
Worthing Pier
Worthing Pier is a public pleasure pier in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson, it was opened on 12 April 1862 and remains open to the public. The pier originally was a simple promenade deck long and wide. In 1888 ...
in 1896, and two years later
William Kennedy Dickson
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson (3 August 1860 – 28 September 1935) was a British people, British inventor who devised an early motion picture camera under the employment of Thomas Edison.
Early life
William Kennedy Dickson was born on 3 ...
—inventor of the
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...
, a pioneering motion picture device—visited the town to film daily life. In the early 20th century, several cinemas were established, although most were short-lived.
Other former cinemas include the Rivoli (1924–1960), the 2,000-capacity Plaza (1933–1968) and the 1,600-capacity Odeon (1934–1986).
The Kursaal was built in 1910 as a combined skating rink and theatre by
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
impresario
Carl Adolf Seebold. It was renamed the Dome in 1915 in response to anti-German sentiment during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Seebold opened the 950-capacity
Dome Cinema in place of the skating rink in 1922;
it is still open, and is one of Britain's oldest operational cinemas.
The Connaught Screen 2 cinema (formerly the Ritz, and before that Connaught Hall) was established in 1995.
Many films and television programmes have been filmed using Worthing as the backdrop including:
Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
's ''
The Birthday Party'' (1968),
directed by
William Friedkin
William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...
(best known for directing ''
The French Connection'' in 1971 and ''
The Exorcist
''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...
'' in 1973), ''
Dance with a Stranger'' (1985),
''
Wish You Were Here Wish You Were Here may refer to:
Film, television, and theater Film
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (1987 film), a British comedy-drama film by David Leland
* ''Wish You Were Here'' (2012 film), an Australian drama/mystery film by Kieran Darcy-Smith ...
'' (1987),
''
Stan & Ollie
''Stan & Ollie'' is a 2018 biographical comedy-drama film directed by Jon S. Baird. The script, written by Jeff Pope, was inspired by ''Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours'' by A.J. Marriot which chronicled the later years of the comedy double ...
'' (2018), ''
Vindication Swim'' (forthcoming) and ''
My Policeman'' (forthcoming), as well as the television drama series ''
Cuffs'' (2015).
Music
Artists from Worthing include
Alma Cogan
Alma Angela Cohen Cogan (19 May 1932 – 26 October 1966) was an English singer of traditional pop in the 1950s and early 1960s. Dubbed the "Girl with the Giggle in Her Voice", she was the highest paid British female entertainer of her era.
C ...
,
Royal Blood
A royal descent is a genealogy, genealogical Kinship and descent, line of descent from a past or present monarch.
Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic ...
and
The Ordinary Boys
The Ordinary Boys are an English indie rock band from Worthing, West Sussex. Originally a hardcore outfit named Next in Line, they are influenced by punk rock and Britpop music, as well as the bands the Clash, the Specials, the Jam, the Kinks ...
. Worthing was home in the late 1960s to the
Worthing Workshop, a group of artists and musicians who included
Leo Sayer
Gerard Hugh "Leo" Sayer (born 21 May 1948) is an English-Australian singer and songwriter whose singing career has spanned five decades. He has been an Australian citizen and resident since 2009.
Sayer launched his career in the United Kingdom ...
,
Brian James of
The Damned,
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...
and
Steamhammer, whose guitarist,
Martin Quittenton
Martin Quittenton (22 April 1945 – 16 April 2015) was a British guitarist and composer. He played in the blues rock band Steamhammer, formed in 1968. Their debut album '' Steamhammer'' was released in 1969.
Quittenton also worked with Rod Stew ...
, went on to co-write
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
's UK number one hits "
You Wear It Well
"You Wear It Well" is a song written by Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, performed by Stewart. It uses an arrangement markedly similar to that of "Maggie May", one of Stewart's hits from the previous year.
Stewart recorded "You Wear It Well" ...
" and "
Maggie May
"Maggie May" is a song co-written by singer Rod Stewart and Martin Quittenton, and performed by Rod Stewart on his album ''Every Picture Tells a Story'', released in 1971.
In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the song number 130 on its list of T ...
".
For three days in 1970 a field on the outskirts of Worthing was the site of the
Phun City
Phun City was a rock festival held at Ecclesden Common near Worthing, England, from 24 July to 26 July 1970. Excluding the one-day free concerts in London's Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, Phun City became the first large-scale free festival in th ...
music festival, the UK's first large-scale free music festival and organised by two former Worthing residents,
UK underground musician and author
Mick Farren
Michael Anthony Farren (3 September 1943 – 27 July 2013) was an English rock musician, singer, journalist, and author associated with counterculture and the UK underground.
Early life
Farren was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, and aft ...
and Gez Cox.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s
Sterns Nightclub
Sterns was a nightclub located at Highdown Towers on Highdown Hill in Worthing, West Sussex. It was situated off the A259 road just north of Ferring on the South Downs. It became known as a major centre of UK rave culture in the south of Engl ...
was a major centre for
rave
A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...
culture in the UK and Worthing continues to have a notable electronic music scene.
Music venues include the Assembly Hall, the
Pavilion Theatre,
The Venue, the Factory Live, Jungle and the Cellar Arts Club. The Assembly Hall is home to the
Worthing Symphony Orchestra, the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra
and the
Sussex International Piano Competition.
Howarth of London
Howarth of London is a company specialising in the manufacture and retail of woodwind instruments and associated accessories. The company was formed in 1948 when its first oboe was produced, and continues to produce instruments today. The first ...
, the UK's largest manufacturer of professional standard oboes are based in Worthing.
Theatre
As of 2019 Worthing has three council-owned theatres: the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
Connaught Theatre
The Connaught Theatre is a Streamline Moderne-style theatre and cinema in the centre of Worthing, in West Sussex, England. Built as the Picturedrome cinema in 1914, the venue was extended in 1935 and became the new home of the Connaught Theatre ...
(formerly called Picturdrome),
the
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
Pavilion Theatre
and the
Modernist
Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
, Grade II-listed Assembly Hall, which is mostly used for musical performances (including since 1950 an annual music festival).
Theatre has been performed in Worthing since 1796. Thomas Trotter, the early promoter and manager at the town's temporary venues,
was asked to open a permanent theatre in 1807; his Theatre Royal opened on 7 July of that year and operated until 1855. The building survived until 1870. The 1,000-capacity New Theatre Royal in Bath Place, run by Carl Adolf Seebold for several years, lasted from 1897 until 1929.
Museums and galleries
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery hosts one of the most significant costume collections in the UK. Built in 1908 as the town's museum and library, it is expected to undergo a major redevelopment in 2020. Alfred Cortis, the first mayor of Worthing, and the international philanthropist
Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
funded the construction.
In the visual arts, painter
Copley Fielding
Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (22 November 1787 – 3 March 1855), commonly called Copley Fielding, was an English painter born in Sowerby, near Halifax, and famous for his watercolour landscapes. At an early age Fielding became a pup ...
lived at 5 Park Crescent in the mid-18th century.
and more recently
Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is an English comic book creator, illustrator, music video director, and songwriter. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin and co-creator of the virtual band Gorilla ...
and
Alan Martin created cult comic figure ''
Tank Girl
''Tank Girl'' is a British comic book character created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, and first appeared in print in 1988 in the British comics magazine ''Deadline''. After a period of intense popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ...
'' while at college in the town in the 1980s.
[/] The town has a famous work by sculptor
Elisabeth Frink
Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the divine in ...
. Uniquely in England, Desert Quartet (1990), Frink's penultimate sculpture, was given Grade II* listing in 2007, less than 30 years from its creation. It may be seen on the building opposite Liverpool Gardens. Hand-painted by Gary Bevans over more than five years,
English Martyrs' Catholic Church in Goring has the world's only known reproduction of
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...
's
Sistine Chapel ceiling
The Sistine Chapel ceiling ( it, Soffitto della Cappella Sistina), painted in fresco by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance Renaissance art, art. The Sistine Chapel is the large papal chapel built with ...
.
Buildings and architecture
Few structures in central Worthing predate the 19th century, these being a few buildings on
Worthing High Street that are survivals from the early fishing hamlet of Worthing. There are some older buildings in the former villages outside the town centre. For example, parts of
St Mary's Church in Broadwater date to the Saxon period and West Tarring has several buildings from the medieval and Tudor periods, including St Andrew's Church and the Archbishop's Palace, which date from the 13th century.
There are 213
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s in the borough of Worthing. Three of these—
Castle Goring
Castle Goring is a Grade I listed country house in Worthing, in West Sussex, England about northwest of the town centre.
One of Worthing's two Grade I listed buildings (deemed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be of exc ...
,
St Mary's Church at Broadwater and the Archbishop's Palace at West Tarring—are classified at Grade I, which is used for buildings "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".
Worthing Pier
Worthing Pier is a public pleasure pier in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson, it was opened on 12 April 1862 and remains open to the public. The pier originally was a simple promenade deck long and wide. In 1888 ...
,
Park Crescent,
Beach House
Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals).
Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to ...
and several churches are also listed.
Since 1896, when Warwick House was demolished, many historic buildings have been lost and others altered.
The town's first and most distinguished theatre, the Theatre Royal, and the adjacent Omega Cottage (the home of the theatre's first manager) were lost in 1970 when the Guildbourne Centre was built;
Warne's Hotel and the Royal Sea House burnt down;
the early
bath-houses which were vital to Worthing's success as a fashionable resort were all demolished in the 20th century;
Broadwater's ancient
rectory
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage.
Function
A clergy house is typically ow ...
rotted away after it fell out of use in 1924;
and several old streets in the town centre had all their buildings demolished for postwar redevelopment.
Pale yellow bricks have been made locally since about 1780, and are commonly encountered as a building material.
Flint
Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...
is the other predominant structural material: its local abundance has ensured its frequent use. The combination of flint and red brick is characteristic of Worthing. In particular, walls built alongside streets or to mark out boundaries were almost always built of flint with brick dressings, especially in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Boat porches are a unique architectural feature of Worthing. These structures surround the entrance doors of some early 19th-century houses, and take the form of a
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...
ed porch with an
ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...
-headed roof which resembles the bottom of a boat. Historians have speculated that the cottages, examples of which are in Albert Place, Warwick Place and elsewhere, may have been built by local fishermen who used their boats as a basis for the design.
The town has a small number of residential
high-rise building
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
s including Manor Lea at , built in 1967 and
Bayside Vista at , under development and expected to be completed in 2021. The
Splashpoint Leisure Centre
Splashpoint Leisure Centre is a leisure centre located in the centre of Worthing, West Sussex, England. It contains a 25-metre long pool and gymnasium. Designed by WilkinsonEyre it won an award at the World Architecture Festival in 2013. Wilkin ...
won a
World Architecture Festival
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is an annual festival and awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious events dedicated to the architecture and development industry. The first four events were held in Barcelona, from 2008 to 2011, at which p ...
award in 2013. A tall ferris wheel was opened in 2019.
Folklore
The Midsummer Tree, an
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
, stands near Broadwater Green and is said to be around 300 years old. Until the 19th century, it was believed that on
Midsummer's Eve
Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe.
The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mar ...
skeletons would rise from the tree and dance around it until dawn, when they would sink back into the ground.
The legend was first recorded by folklorist Charlotte Latham in 1868.
Since 2006, when the oak was saved from development, meetings have been held on Midsummers Eve there.
It was once believed that monsters known as
knucker
Knucker is a dialect word for a sort of water dragon, living in ''knuckerholes'' in Sussex, England. "The word comes from the Old English ''nicor'' which means "water monster" and is used in the poem ''Beowulf''. It may also be related to the wo ...
s lived in bottomless ponds called
knuckerhole
Knucker is a dialect word for a sort of water dragon, living in ''knuckerholes'' in Sussex, England. "The word comes from the Old English ''nicor'' which means "water monster" and is used in the poem '' Beowulf''. It may also be related to the ...
s. There were several knuckerholes in Sussex, including one in Worthing by Ham Bridge (on the present Ham Road), close to
East Worthing railway station and
Teville Stream.
According to legend, a tunnel several miles long led from the now-demolished medieval
Offington Hall to the Neolithic flint mines and Iron Age hill fort at Cissbury. It was said to be sealed, and there was treasure at the far end; the owner of the Hall "had offered half the money to anyone who would clear out the subterranean passage and several persons had begun digging, but all had been driven back by large snakes springing at them with open mouths and angry hisses".
Open spaces
The town has five miles of beach and large areas of open space on the South Downs including the
Worthing Downland Estate,
Cissbury Ring
Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort.
Cissbury Ring is ...
and
Highdown Hill
Highdown Hill is a hill in the South Downs, with a height of . The summit of the hill and its western slopes lie in the parish of Ferring in the Arun district, while its eastern slopes lie in the borough of Worthing. It is a popular spot for pi ...
. The town also contains a number of parks and gardens, many laid out in the
Victorian and
Edwardian era
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
s.
* Beach House Green
*
Beach House Park – named after nearby Beach House, the park is home to one of the world's most well-known venues for the sport of
bowls
Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...
. The park is also home to a possibly unique memorial to
homing pigeon
The homing pigeon, also called the mail pigeon or messenger pigeon, is a variety of domestic pigeons (''Columba livia domestica'') derived from the wild rock dove, selective breeding, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over e ...
s that served in the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
* Broadwater Green – Broadwater's 'village green'.
* Brooklands Park
* Denton Gardens – at the southern end of Denton Gardens is an 18-hole Crazy Golf course.
* Field Place – tennis courts, lawn bowls, putting and conference facilities. Can be found north of
Worthing Leisure Centre.
* Goring Green
*
Highdown Gardens
Highdown Gardens are gardens on the western edge of the town of Worthing, close to the village of Ferring and the National Trust archaeological site Highdown Hill, in West Sussex, England. Overlooking the sea from the South Downs, they contain a ...
– a garden at the foot of the South Downs containing the National Plant Collection of the plant collection of Sir Frederick Stern containing rare plants collected from east Asia.
* Homefield Park – formerly known as the 'People's Park' it was once home to
Worthing F.C.
Worthing Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Worthing, West Sussex, currently playing in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club plays at Woodside Road.
History
The c ...
also includes a concrete skatepark and tennis courts.
* Liverpool Gardens – overlooking the graceful
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
Liverpool Terrace, the gardens and terrace are named after
Lord Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
. Overlooking the park from the east are four bronze heads known as ''Desert Quartet'', sculpted by
Dame Elisabeth Frink
Dame Elisabeth Jean Frink (14 November 1930 – 18 April 1993) was an English sculptor and printmaker. Her ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the divine in ...
.
* Marine Gardens
* Palatine Park
* Promenade Waterwise Garden
* Steyne Gardens – which includes a sunken garden re-landscaped in 2007 with a fountain of the
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...
sea god,
Triton
Triton commonly refers to:
* Triton (mythology), a Greek god
* Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune
Triton may also refer to:
Biology
* Triton cockatoo, a parrot
* Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails
* ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...
, by sculptor
William Bloye
William James Bloye (8 July 1890 – 6 June 1975) was an English sculptor, active in Birmingham either side of World War II.
Life
Bloye studied, and later, taught at the Birmingham School of Art (his training was interrupted by World War ...
.
* Victoria Park – was donated by the Heene Estate to the poor of Worthing in commemoration of the death of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. (Taken from title deeds to property owned in St. Matthews Road.) The land was previously used for
market garden
A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or s ...
ing and once sported a paddling pool which was closed due to foot infections in the children. Victoria Park is used by clubs and casual footballers.
* West Park – has a running track and basketball court and lies next to Worthing Leisure Centre.
Annual events
Worthing Artists' Open Houses is an annual festival of arts and crafts. The Worthing Festival is held in the last two weeks each July with open-air concerts in the town centre and a fairground along the town's promenade.
Worthing Pride has been celebrated in the town since 2018. From 2008 to 2015, Worthing was the home to the
International Birdman competition.
In January, the ancient custom of
wassailing
The tradition of wassailing (''alt sp'' wasselling) falls into two distinct categories: the house-visiting wassail and the orchard-visiting wassail. The house-visiting wassail is the practice of people going door-to-door, singing and offering a ...
takes place in Tarring to bless the apple trees. A flaming torchlit procession takes place down Tarring High Street culminating in hundreds of people gathering around an apple tree to shout, chant and sing to drive away evil spirits. The apple trees are toasted with
wassail
Wassail (, , most likely from Old Norse ''"ves heill"'') is a beverage made from hot mulled cider, ale, or wine and spices, drunk traditionally as an integral part of wassailing, an ancient English Yuletide drinking ritual and salutation ei ...
,
apple cider
Apple cider (also called sweet cider, soft cider, or simply cider) is the name used in the United States and Canada for an unfiltered, unsweetened, non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. Though typically referred to simply as "cider" in the Un ...
and
apple cake
Apple cakes are cakes in which apples feature as a main flavour and ingredient. Such cakes incorporate apples in a variety of forms, including diced, pureed, or stewed, and can include common additions like raisins, nuts, and 'sweet' spices suc ...
, followed by fireworks. On May Day, a procession and dancing takes place in Worthing town centre, culminating in the crowning of the
May Queen
In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday, and of springtime and also summer. The May Queen is a girl who rides or walks at the front of a parade for May Da ...
.
Media
In the early 19th century, Worthing was served by newspapers with a wider geographical circulation, such as the ''Brighton Gazette'', ''
Brighton Herald
The ''Brighton Herald'' (renamed ''The Brighton Herald & Hove Chronicle'' in 1902 and the ''Brighton & Hove Herald'' in 1922) was a weekly newspaper covering the boroughs of Brighton and Hove in southeast England. Founded in 1806 as the first new ...
'', ''Sussex Daily News'', ''Sussex Weekly Advertiser'' and ''West Sussex Gazette''.
Weekly or monthly publications such as the ''Worthing Visitors' List and Advertising Sheet'' (notorious for its condemnation of people who had displeased its owner, Owen Breads),
the ''Worthing Monthly Record & District Chronicle'' and the ''Worthing Intelligencer''
provided some local coverage from the middle of the century onwards; but the town's first regular local newspaper was the ''Worthing Gazette'', introduced in 1883.
It favoured the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
at first, and supported the
Skeleton Army
The Skeleton Army was a diffuse group, particularly in Southern England, that opposed and disrupted The Salvation Army's marches against alcohol in the late 19th century. Clashes between the two groups led to the deaths of several Salvationis ...
's anti-Salvation Army riots later that decade.
In 1921 its scope was extended to include Littlehampton, and it was renamed accordingly.
The ''Worthing Herald'' was founded in 1920; it acquired the ''Gazette'' in 1963, but continued to publish the newspapers separately until 1981. Since then, a single newspaper has been published weekly under the ''Herald'' name, but it is officially known as the ''Worthing Herald incorporating the Worthing Gazette''.
It is now owned by
Johnston Press
Johnston Press plc was a multimedia company founded in Falkirk, Scotland, in 1767. Its flagship titles included UK-national newspaper the '' i'', ''The Scotsman'', the ''Yorkshire Post'', the ''Falkirk Herald'', and Belfast's ''The News Letter'' ...
, and has been based at Cannon House in Chatsworth Road since 1991.
The Brighton-based daily ''
The Argus'', owned by
Newsquest
Newsquest Media Group Ltd. is the second largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom. It is owned by the American mass media holding company Gannett. It has 205 brands across the UK, publishing online and in print ...
, also serves Worthing. An anarchic local newsletter called ''The Porkbolter'', focusing on environmental issues, has been published monthly since 1997.
Worthing is served by the
BBC South
BBC South is the BBC English Region serving
Oxfordshire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Dorset, Berkshire and parts of Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire, with geographic coverage varying betwee ...
television studios based in Southampton,
BBC South East
BBC South East is the BBC English region serving Kent, East Sussex, most parts of West Sussex and southern parts of Surrey.
The BBC region was created in September 2001 by the joining of the Heathfield transmitter (formerly part of the BBC ...
from Tunbridge Wells, and by the
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
franchise
Meridian Broadcasting
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned an ...
, also with studios in Southampton.
Television signals come from the
Rowridge
Rowridge is a hamlet on the Isle of Wight towards the west in an area known as West Wight. It is the location of the Rowridge transmitting station, a 149.6 metres (491 ft) tall guyed transmitting mast. It is in the civil parish
In Engla ...
or
Whitehawk Hill
Whitehawk Hill is a Local Nature Reserve in Brighton, East Sussex. It is owned and managed by Brighton and Hove City Council.
At the top of the hill is Whitehawk Camp, a Neolithic causewayed enclosure which is a Scheduled Monument.
This is s ...
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
s.
More Radio Worthing
More Radio Worthing (known as Splash FM from 2003 to 2016), is an Independent Local Radio station serving Worthing, Shoreham, Littlehampton and surrounding areas. It is owned and operated by Total Sense Media and broadcasts from studios at The ...
is Worthing's local
commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...
station. Launched in 2003 it broadcasts from the Guildbourne Centre on 107.7
FM.
Heart Sussex
Heart Sussex (previously Southern FM, also operating as Heart Sussex for Crawley & Surrey in Crawley and Surrey) was an Independent Local Radio station which was owned by Global Radio (formerly GCap Media) and played commercial, chart-orient ...
, a
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
-owned commercial station, also covers Worthing.
BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations.
History
The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...
coverage is provided by
BBC Radio Sussex
BBC Radio Sussex is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of East and West Sussex.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Queens Road in Brighton.
Programming
Local programming airs from the BB ...
.
Sport
Worthing's of coastline provide for watersport, especially
catamaran
A Formula 16 beachable catamaran
Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States
A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-stab ...
racing,
windsurfing
Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
and
kitesurfing
Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...
. The town has held a
regatta
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...
for
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...
since at least 1859.
The South Downs is commonly used for hiking and
mountain-biking
Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and pe ...
, with around 22 trail-heads within the borough. Both of Worthing's golf clubs, including
Worthing Golf Club are on the Downs. The
Three Forts Marathon
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
is a
ultramarathon
An ultramarathon, also called ultra distance or ultra running, is any footrace longer than the traditional marathon length of . Various distances are raced competitively, from the shortest common ultramarathon of to over . 50k and 100k are bot ...
from Broadwater to the three Iron Age hill forts of Cissbury Ring, Chanctonbury Ring and
Devil's Dyke.
Worthing F.C.
Worthing Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Worthing, West Sussex, currently playing in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club plays at Woodside Road.
History
The c ...
, nicknamed ''"The Rebels"'' or ''"The Mackerel Men"'', formed in 1886 is the town's main football club. The men's team play in the
National League South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
, having won the
2021—22 Isthmian League Premier Division
The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs.
Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...
and the
women's team play in the Premier Division of the
London and South East Women's Regional Football League {{{Use dmy dates, date=January 2021
{{Infobox football league
, name = London and South East Women's Regional Football League
, logo =
, pixels =
, country = {{ENG
, founded = 2005
, folded =
, divisions = 3
, teams ...
.
Worthing United F.C. nicknamed 'the ''"Mavericks"'' were playing in the
Division One of the Sussex County League in 2013. Nicknamed ''Worthing Raiders'',
Worthing Rugby Football Club
Worthing Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system; National League 2 East. The first XV, nicknamed ''The Raiders'', were runners-up to Henley Hawks in the National L ...
play in
National League 2 South
National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...
and since 1977 have been based in the nearby village of
Angmering
Angmering is a village and civil parish between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex on the southern edge of the South Downs National Park, England; about two-thirds of the parish (mostly north of the A27 road) fall within the Park. It is ...
. Formed in 1999
Worthing Thunder
The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...
play in the
National Basketball League. The
Worthing Bears
Brighton Bears was a British basketball team based in Brighton, Sussex. From 1984 to 1999 the club was known as the Worthing Bears and was based in the town of Worthing, 12 miles west of Brighton. The Bears played in the top-flight British Bas ...
(now defunct) won the
British Basketball League
The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
in
1992—93. Worthing Hockey Club was formed in 1896 and has a number of teams. The home pitches are at Manor Sports Ground.
The promenade is the route used by the Worthing
parkrun
Parkrun (stylised as parkrun) is a collection of events for walkers, runners and volunteers that take place every Saturday morning at more than 2,000 locations in 23 countries across six continents. Junior Parkrun (stylised as junior parkrun) ...
which has been taking place since June 2016. The free, weekly timed 5 km run had 420 people attending the first event.
Alongside
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Worthing is one of only three locations in the world to have hosted the men's
World Bowls Championship
The World Bowls Championship is the premier world bowls competition between national bowls organisations. The premier indoor event is the World Indoor Bowls Championships listed separately and is organised by the World Bowls Tour.
World Outdoor ...
twice. The events were held in
1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...
and
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, both at
Beach House Park, which is sometimes known as the spiritual home of bowls, and is also the venue for the annual National Championships each August. Beach House Park also hosted the Women's World Bowls Championship in
1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...
.
Notable people
Notable inhabitants include:
*
Luke Nelson, basketball player, born and raised in Worthing and first played basketball for the
Worthing Thunder
The Worthing Thunder are an English professional basketball team based in Worthing, West Sussex. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball League (NBL). Founded in 1999 as the Worthing Rebels after the Worthing Bears had relocated to Bri ...
youth teams.
*
Jane Austen
Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...
, the author, lived at Stanford Cottage, Worthing, during the autumn of 1805. Her unfinished novel ''
Sanditon
''Sanditon'' (1817) is an unfinished novel by the English writer Jane Austen. In January 1817, Austen began work on a new novel she called ''The Brothers'', later titled ''Sanditon'', and completed eleven chapters before stopping work in mid- ...
'' (1817) is set in the early days of the development of Worthing as a resort.
*
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic fiction, Gothic novel ''Frankenstein, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an History of scie ...
, author of ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
'', inherited
Castle Goring
Castle Goring is a Grade I listed country house in Worthing, in West Sussex, England about northwest of the town centre.
One of Worthing's two Grade I listed buildings (deemed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to be of exc ...
in 1845.
*
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
, author, wrote ''
The Importance of Being Earnest
''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...
'' while staying in Worthing during the summer of 1894 and even named its protagonist, Jack Worthing, in its honour.
*
Liz Smith, actress, '
The Vicar of Dibley
''The Vicar of Dibley'' is a British sitcom which originally ran on BBC One from 10 November 1994 to 1 January 2007. It is set in a fictional small Oxfordshire village called Dibley, which is assigned a female vicar following the 1992 changes ...
', '
The Royle Family
''The Royle Family'' is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, com ...
'.
*
Henty brothers, Australian pioneer farmers including
Edward Henty
Edward Henty (28 March 1810 – 14 August 1878), was a pioneer British colonist and is regarded as the first permanent settler in the Port Phillip district (later known as the colony of Victoria), Australia.
Early life and family background
E ...
, born in
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 ...
in 1810
*
James Bateman James Bateman may refer to:
*James Bateman (horticulturist) (1811–1897), British landowner and horticulturist
*James Bateman (artist) (1893–1959), English painter of rural scenes
*James Bateman (MP), MP for Carlisle (UK Parliament constituency), ...
, horticulturalist
*
Thomas Shaw Brandreth
Thomas Shaw Brandreth, FRS (24 July 1788 – 27 May 1873) was an English mathematician, inventor and classicist.
Early life and education
Brandreth was the son of a Cheshire physician, Joseph Brandreth. He studied at Eton and received a BA ...
, mathematician and inventor
*
Copley Fielding
Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding (22 November 1787 – 3 March 1855), commonly called Copley Fielding, was an English painter born in Sowerby, near Halifax, and famous for his watercolour landscapes. At an early age Fielding became a pup ...
, artist
*
Octav Botnar
Octav Botnar (October 21, 1913 – July 11, 1998) was a self-made businessman who founded Datsun UK (later Nissan UK) and its associated car retail business Automotive Financial Group (AFG). He was a noted philanthropist.
Early life
Botnar w ...
, founder of Datsun UK, ran his automobile import business from the town
*
Gwendoline Christie
Gwendoline Tracey Philippa Christie (born 28 October 1978) is an English actress who is best known for portraying Brienne of Tarth in the HBO fantasy-drama series ''Game of Thrones'' (2012–2019). She is also widely known for her role the Firs ...
, actress, model.
*
Nicollette Sheridan
Nicollette Sheridan (born 21 November 1963) is an English-born American actress. She began her career as a fashion model before landing a role in the short-lived ABC primetime soap opera ''Paper Dolls'' in 1984, as well as starring in the roman ...
, actress, ''
Desperate Housewives
''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Marc Cherry, Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from Octobe ...
'', birthplace
*
DJ Fresh
Daniel Edward Stein (born 11 April 1977), better known by his stage name DJ Fresh, is an English musician, DJ, record producer, best known for making electronic music. He is one of the principal members of the drum and bass group Bad Company, ...
, musician, birthplace
*
Christopher Hewett
Christopher George Hewett (5 April 1921 – 3 August 2001) was an English actor and theatre director best known for his role as Lynn Aloysius Belvedere on the ABC sitcom ''Mr. Belvedere''.
Career
Hewett was born in Worthing, Sussex to Chris ...
, actor, ''
Mr. Belvedere
''Mr. Belvedere'' is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, to July 8, 1990. The series is based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel ''Belvedere'', which was later ...
''.
*
William Henry Hudson
William Henry Hudson (4 August 1841 – 18 August 1922) – known in Argentina as Guillermo Enrique Hudson – was an Anglo-Argentine author, naturalist and ornithologist.
Life
Hudson was the son of Daniel Hudson and his wife Catherine (), U ...
, writer and naturalist born in Argentina.
*
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), known professionally as Billy Idol, is a British-American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first achieved fame in the 1970s emerging from the London punk rock scene as the lead singer o ...
, musician
*
Mike Kerr, singer and bassist of British rock duo
Royal Blood
A royal descent is a genealogy, genealogical Kinship and descent, line of descent from a past or present monarch.
Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic ...
, grew up in the town.
*
Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became ...
, musician, lived and attended school in the town
*
Peter Bonetti
Peter Philip Bonetti (27 September 1941 – 12 April 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Chelsea, the St. Louis Stars, Dundee United and England. He was known for his safe handling, lightning reflexes an ...
, England goalkeeper
*
Byron Dafoe
Byron Dafoe (born February 25, 1971) is a British-Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was born in Worthing, England, United Kingdom and moved to Comox, British Columbia with his mother at the age of two months. Between 1992 and ...
, National Hockey League goaltender
*
Benjamin Bonetti, Self Help Author, Hypnotherapist
*
Patrick Hadley
Patrick Arthur Sheldon Hadley (5 March 1899 – 17 December 1973) was a British composer.
Biography
Patrick Sheldon Hadley was born on 5 March 1899 in Cambridge. His father, William Sheldon Hadley, was at that time a fellow of Pembroke Co ...
, English Composer. Went to
Saint Ronan's School West Worthing.
*
Kenny Tutt, English chef and winner of the
MasterChef 2018 UK TV show competition
In the 20th century, these writers chose to live in the town:
*
Beatrice Hastings, poet
*
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...
*
Simon Messingham
Simon Messingham is a British science fiction writer, and a comedy writer and performer, who has written six ''Doctor Who'' novels and another ''Doctor Who'' story released as a BBC Audio Drama. Messingham has also witten an original novel, Sirens ...
, science fiction writer
Twin towns
:
Elzach
Elzach (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Elze'') is a town in the Emmendingen (district), district of Emmendingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Elz (Rhine), Elz, 26 km northeast of Freiburg.
Geography ...
, Germany
:
Gutach im Breisgau
Gutach ( Low Alemannic: ''Guetich im Brisgau'') is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Gutach includes six villages:
* Gutach
* Bleibach
* Siegelau
* Stollen
* Kregelbach
* Oberspitzenbach
Twin towns ...
, Germany
:
Les Sables-d'Olonne
Les Sables-d'Olonne (; French meaning: "The Sands of Olonne"; Poitevin: ''Lés Sablles d'Oloune'') is a seaside town in Western France, on the Atlantic Ocean. A subprefecture of the department of Vendée, Pays de la Loire, it has the administ ...
, France
:
Simonswald, Germany
:
Waldkirch
Waldkirch is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located 15 kilometers northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. While the English translation of its name is ''Forest Church'', it is known as the "town of mechanical organs", where fairground organs ...
, Germany
Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Worthing Borough Council*
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{{Authority control
Towns in West Sussex
Populated coastal places in West Sussex
Seaside resorts in England
Non-metropolitan districts of West Sussex
Beaches of West Sussex
1803 establishments in England
Unparished areas in West Sussex
Boroughs in England