Worthing is a small village and former

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

in the Breckland district, in the county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England. The civil parish of Worthing is now merged with that of the neighbouring village of Hoe, though the ecclesiastical parishes are still separate (see below). In 1931 the parish had a population of 120. On 1 April 1935 Worthing was abolished and merged with Hoe, the renamed parish is now called Hoe and Worthing.

Parish church

Its church, dedicated to St. Margaret, is one of 124 extant round-tower churches in

. Once a larger building, the upper section of the round tower was removed in the 18th-century, and the

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

was demolished at a date between 1721 and 1820. What remains is the original

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

, and the lower section of the tower, together with the small porch. The church features in

Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist * Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo * David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...

. The parish of Worthing is now part of the Heart of Norfolk Benefice, a group of thirteen parishes and churches which operate collectively, with a shared

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

. The benefice is part of the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the Eas ...

. The church is open daily, thanks to an automated keyless entry system installed by the PCC.

Railway

The Wymondham to Wells Branch of the Great Eastern Railway passes through the village. The branch line was operational from 1847 until 1989 (freight only for the final twenty years). North Elmham railway station is located in Worthing, but is named after the larger village of

North Elmham North Elmham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,428 in 624 households at the 2001 census, including Gateley and increasing slightly to 1,433 at the 2011 Census. For ...

itself, although that community is geographically further away from the station. The

Mid-Norfolk Railway The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" ...

operates a heritage railway service to a location near to the village, just a few yards to the north of Worthing level crossing. Regular services currently stop at Dereham railway station, but special sightseeing trains continued northwards to Worthing on 19 May 2018. Although no station is available, Worthing is indicated on the Mid-Norfolk Railway's timetable as the northerly limit of operations. The original North Elmham station building is now a private dwelling. The MNR aims to extend regular operations through Worthing and north as far as

County School railway station ''County School railway station'' is on the Mid-Norfolk Railway in Norfolk, England; it will serve the villages of North Elmham and Guist once services resume. It is 17 miles 40 chains (28 km) down the line from Wymondham and is the norther ...

, which would see regular train services operating through Worthing once again.

Facilities

Apart from the church and the railway, local community facilities have closed. Worthing's two

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s, ''The Tanners Arms'' and ''The Swan Inn'', had both closed by the mid 1960s, and are now private houses. The village store,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

s, and

fishmonger A fishmonger (historically fishwife for female practitioners) is someone who sells raw fish and seafood. Fishmongers can be wholesalers or retailers and are trained at selecting and purchasing, handling, gutting, boning, filleting, displaying, m ...

s have all closed, as have employers including the gravel pits and the tannery which provided much employment during the twentieth century. In August 1966 the local Dereham Times newspaper ran an illustrated article under the title ''Worthing hamlet is in its death throes'', reporting Worthing's population as 120 in 1931, 57 in 1963, and just 43 in 1965. The local postman was quoted as stating that he delivered post to only 23 occupied dwellings in Worthing.

References

External links

St Margaret's on the European Round Tower Churches website
{{authority control Villages in Norfolk Former civil parishes in Norfolk Breckland District Round towers