Worthing East & Shoreham (UK Parliament constituency)
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Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, 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. 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 15th most populous urban area in the United Kingdom. Since 2010, northern parts of the borough, including the
Worthing Downland Estate The Worthing Downland Estate, ''Worthing Downs'' or ''Worthing Downland'', is an area of land in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex, England, close to the town of Worthing. It was bought by the public, following threats to the beauty s ...
, have formed part of the South Downs National Park. In 2019, the Art Deco
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 t ...
was named the best in Britain. Lying within the borough, the Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring is one of Britain's largest. The recorded
history of Worthing Worthing is a large seaside town in Sussex, England in the United Kingdom. The history of the area begins in Prehistoric times and the present importance of the town dates from the 19th century. Prehistory Stone Age Within of Worthing's to ...
began with the Domesday Book. 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; Goring, which forms part of the rape of Arundel, 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 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. It was in the hundred of Brightford and the county of Sussex and is listed as ''Ordinges'' or ''Mordinges''. The Tenant-in-chief 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.


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. There is also an important Bronze Age hill fort on the western fringes of the modern borough at Highdown Hill. During the Iron Age, one of Britain's largest hill forts was built at Cissbury Ring. The area was part of the civitas of the Regni during the Romano-British 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. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the area became part of the kingdom of Sussex. 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 ''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 ...
'' during his second visit. The town was home to several literary figures in the 20th century, including Nobel prize-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'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 The Battle of South Street was a riot that took place on 9 October 1934 in Worthing, Sussex, England. The riot took place as members of the British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist protesters clashed following a meeting of Fascists a ...
. During the Second World War, 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 and West Sussex County Council in a two-tier structure. Worthing Borough Council partners with neighbouring local authorities, as part of
Adur and Worthing Councils Adur and Worthing Councils refers to two local government bodies, Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council, in West Sussex, England, who have operated under a joint management structure, with a single Chief Executive A chief executive ...
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 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 (MPs): Tim Loughton (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 (Conservative) for
Worthing West Worthing West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since its 1997 creation by Sir Peter Bottomley, a Conservative, who is the Father of the House of Commons. Boundaries *Worthing wards: Castle, Central, Dur ...
, who following the 2019 general election became the Father of the House of Commons. At the
2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November  ...
, the East Worthing and Shoreham seat became a marginal seat 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 of London and west of Brighton and Hove.
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, 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. To the north of the urban area are the chalk hills of the South Downs, 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 High Salvington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is centred northwest of the town centre and is north of the A27. History Pre-history At the top of West Hill in High Salvington are remains o ...
and
Findon Valley Findon Valley is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A24 road 2.9 miles (4.7 km) north of the town centre. The settlement of Findon Valley is named after the dry valley through the ...
climb the lower slopes of the Downs, reaching up to the contour line, whereas the highest point in the borough reaches at Cissbury Ring. Land at Cissbury Ring and the adjacent publicly owned
Worthing Downland Estate The Worthing Downland Estate, ''Worthing Downs'' or ''Worthing Downland'', is an area of land in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex, England, close to the town of Worthing. It was bought by the public, following threats to the beauty s ...
together form a area of open access land within the borough. Further high points are at West Hill (139m) north-west of
High Salvington High Salvington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is centred northwest of the town centre and is north of the A27. History Pre-history At the top of West Hill in High Salvington are remains o ...
and at Highdown Hill (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 Hil ...
. 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 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, 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 (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 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 The Teville Stream is a stream which flows through the town of Worthing in West Sussex. Once significantly wider than the current stream, it is now culverted for much of its length. Watercourse The Teville Stream rises at allotments in Tarring, W ...
and the partially-culverted
Ferring Rife The Ferring Rife is a stream in West Sussex, England that rises in the West Durrington area of Worthing. It has multiple sources including one near Castle Goring and another in Titnore Wood. The streams converge that make up the Ferring Rife c ...
run through the town. One of the Ferring Rife's sources is in
Titnore Wood Titnore Wood is an area of ancient woodland to the north-west of Worthing in West Sussex. With neighbouring Goring Wood it forms one of the last remaining blocks of ancient woodland on the West Sussex coastal plain. Since 2006 land in and aroun ...
, a Site of Nature Conservation Interest and one of the last remaining blocks of ancient woodland 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 and the Sompting Gap. Each gap falling largely outside the borough boundaries. The borough of Worthing contains no nature reserves: 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, are home to rare fish such as blennies and the lesser spotted dogfish. 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 Marine Conservation Zone. Just south of the shoreline lies remains of what was once an extensive kelp forest 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 climate: its Köppen climate classification 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, 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 townships of Worthing and
West Worthing West Worthing is a neighbourhood of Worthing in West Sussex, England that was developed within Heene and later expanded beyond Heene's boundaries. Intended as an exclusive resort, the township of West Worthing was developed from around 1864 and m ...
, which merged in 1890 when the town gained borough status. This area comprises the town centre,
East Worthing East Worthing is a residential area of Worthing in the Worthing district, in the county of West Sussex, England, situated immediately to the east of Worthing town centre. It is bounded by the West Coastway railway line and Broadwater to the ...
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 Findon Valley is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A24 road 2.9 miles (4.7 km) north of the town centre. The settlement of Findon Valley is named after the dry valley through the ...
, which was formerly part of the parish of Findon. Other areas within these parishes include
High Salvington High Salvington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is centred northwest of the town centre and is north of the A27. History Pre-history At the top of West Hill in High Salvington are remains o ...
,
Offington Offington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road 1.6 miles (2.5 km) northwest of the town centre. Today, the area is a residential suburb of Worthing. Offington was part ...
and
Salvington Salvington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies south of the A27 road two miles (3 km) north-west of the town centre. It is served by three elected Worthing Borough Councillors at any giv ...
.


Demography


Population change

According to the Office for National Statistics, 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 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, with significant numbers also moving to the borough from London. Source: A Vision of Britain Through Time, Office for National Statistics 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's 2021 census, 91.3% of the population was White (85.0% White British, 0.8% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy/ Irish Traveller, 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), 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, 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 va ...
, 1.5% Other Asian), 1.2% Black (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 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, 0.70% of its population (778 people) were born in India, 0.68% (753 people) were born in the Philippines 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 churches 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 ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...
brought the controversial ''" High Church"'' form of worship to the town in the 1880s—its "Worthing Madonna" icon 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 High Salvington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is centred northwest of the town centre and is north of the A27. History Pre-history At the top of West Hill in High Salvington are remains o ...
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 Botolph of Thorney (also called Botolph, Botulph or Botulf; later known as Saint Botolph; died around 680) was an English abbot and saint. He is regarded as the patron saint of boundaries, and by extension, of trade and travel, as well as vario ...
'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 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. 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 and Evangelical Christian groups each have several churches in the borough, and other denominations represented include Christadelphians, Christian Scientists,
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 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 Street Pastors is an interdenominational network of Christian charities that operates worldwide, composed of members who spend time in their communities in order to assist people who they feel are in need of help, and to spread their religion throu ...
. 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 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 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 provides six state secondary schools:
Bohunt School Worthing Bohunt School Worthing (BSW) is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in Worthing, West Sussex, England. It was established in September 2015 and is part of the Bohunt Education Trust. The school opened as part of the change of ...
in Broadwater is a coeducational academy school,
Durrington High School Durrington High School is a Coeducational secondary school located in Worthing, West Sussex. The school operated as a high school between 1973 and 2015 as part of Worthing's three-tier provision. From September 2015 the school became a standard ...
and St Andrews High School and Worthing High School are all coeducational, 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 St Oscar Romero Catholic School (formerly Chatsmore Catholic High School; formerly Blessed Robert Southwell High School) is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school located in the Goring-by-Sea area of Worthing, West Sussex, England. ...
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 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, 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 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 Teville Gate is a construction site and car park in Worthing in West Sussex, England. Covering about the site lies at the main entrance to the town centre of Worthing for both rail, via Worthing railway station, and road, via the A24 and A27. Th ...
, 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, hotel and conference and exhibition centre. The developers are expected to apply for planning permission 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. 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 to redevelop and enlarge the museum. A new £16 million municipal swimming pool, Splash Point Leisure Centre, has been designed by Stirling Prize-winning architects Wilkinson Eyre; it was opened by Paralympian
Ellie Simmonds Eleanor May Simmonds, OBE (born 11 November 1994) is a British former Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Gre ...
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 The Dome Cinema, Worthing, West Sussex, England, is a grade II* listed building owned by PDJ Cinemas Ltd. The Dome Cinema, which has three screens and a Projectionist's Bar is run by PDJ Cinemas, while Alfresco Services run two function rooms and ...
in 2007 after major investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund, 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 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 from Brighton brought about an immediate decline. The former turnpike is now the A24, a primary route 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, Portsmouth and the M27 motorway 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 and Kent. Most local and long-distance buses are operated by Stagecoach South which has its origins in Southdown Motor Services—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, 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 run between London's Victoria Coach Station and Marine Parade. During the 1920s and 1930s, a fleet of up to 15 converted Shelvoke and Drewry dustbin lorries—the
Worthing Tramocars The Worthing Tramocars formed part of the public transport network in Worthing, a seaside resort in West Sussex, England, during the 1920s and 1930s. The vehicles were converted dustbin lorries manufactured by Shelvoke and Drewry and adapted fo ...
—operated local bus services alongside more conventional vehicles. The borough has five railway stations:
East Worthing East Worthing is a residential area of Worthing in the Worthing district, in the county of West Sussex, England, situated immediately to the east of Worthing town centre. It is bounded by the West Coastway railway line and Broadwater to the ...
, Worthing,
West Worthing West Worthing is a neighbourhood of Worthing in West Sussex, England that was developed within Heene and later expanded beyond Heene's boundaries. Intended as an exclusive resort, the township of West Worthing was developed from around 1864 and m ...
, Durrington-on-Sea and Goring-by-Sea. All are on the West Coastway Line and are managed and operated by the
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
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, Brighton, Littlehampton and Portsmouth. Shoreham Airport 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, 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 firefighters.
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. 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 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 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 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'' 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 o ...
'' in 1811, which resulted in Shelley's expulsion from Oxford University and falling out with his father. Shelley's grandfather built Castle Goring and his father 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'' 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'' at his home in Ambrose Place. Other literary figures to have lived in the town include
W.E. Henley William Ernest Henley (23 August 184911 July 1903) was an English poet, writer, critic and editor. Though he wrote several books of poetry, Henley is remembered most often for his 1875 poem "Invictus". A fixture in London literary circles, the o ...
, W.H. Hudson, Stephen Spender,
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 Beatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh (27 January 1879 – 30 October 1943) an English writer, literary critic, poet and theosophist. Her work was integral to British Magazine ''The New Age'' which she helped edit along with h ...
,
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 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 t ...
in 1896, and two years later William Kennedy Dickson—inventor of the Kinetoscope, 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 Carl Adolf Seebold (1873–1951) was a Swiss impresario who commissioned and ran the Dome Cinema in the English coastal town of Worthing in West Sussex. Swiss-born Seebold was the son of a rope manufacturer from Zürich. The father fell on hard ...
. It was renamed the Dome in 1915 in response to anti-German sentiment during World War I. Seebold opened the 950-capacity
Dome Cinema The Dome Cinema, Worthing, West Sussex, England, is a grade II* listed building owned by PDJ Cinemas Ltd. The Dome Cinema, which has three screens and a Projectionist's Bar is run by PDJ Cinemas, while Alfresco Services run two function rooms and ...
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's '' The Birthday Party'' (1968), directed by William Friedkin (best known for directing '' The French Connection'' in 1971 and '' The Exorcist'' 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), ''Wish You Were Here'' (1987 film), a British comedy-drama film by David Leland * Wish You Were Here (2012 film), ''Wish You Were Here'' (2012 ...
'' (1987), '' Stan & Ollie'' (2018), ''
Vindication Swim ''Vindication Swim'' is an upcoming biographical drama film about swimmer Mercedes Gleitze, who in 1927 became the first British woman to swim the English Channel. The film is written and directed by Elliott Hasler, starring Kirsten Callaghan in ...
'' (forthcoming) and ''
My Policeman ''My Policeman'' is a 2012 romance novel written b It is set in Brighton, East Sussex, England, in the 1950s. Plot summary The novel is set in Brighton in 1957.Natasha TripneyMy Policeman by Bethan Roberts – review ''The Guardian'', March 11, ...
'' (forthcoming), as well as the television drama series '' Cuffs'' (2015).


Music

Artists from Worthing include Alma Cogan,
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. Worthing was home in the late 1960s to the
Worthing Workshop The Arts Lab was an alternative arts centre, founded in 1967 by Jim Haynes at 182 Drury Lane, London. Although only active for two years, it was influential in inspiring many similar centres in the UK, continental Europe and Australia, includi ...
, a group of artists and musicians who included Leo Sayer, Brian James of The Damned, Billy Idol and Steamhammer, whose guitarist, Martin Quittenton, 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" and " Maggie May". For three days in 1970 a field on the outskirts of Worthing was the site of the Phun City 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 and Gez Cox. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Sterns Nightclub 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 Symphony Orchestra is the professional orchestra for the town of Worthing. It is the only professional orchestra in the English county of West Sussex. Founded in 1926, the orchestra was the first municipal orchestra in Britain. T ...
, the Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra and the
Sussex International Piano Competition The Sussex International Piano Competition is a music competition that takes place in Worthing, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 2010 by Worthing Symphony Orchestra (WSO) artistic director and conductor John Gibbons. It takes place at the ...
.
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 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, 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 Worthing Museum and Art Gallery is in the centre of Worthing near the grade II* listed St Paul's. The building, which celebrated its centenary in 2008, was originally designed to house the town's library as well as the museum, the library sec ...
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 funded the construction. In the visual arts, painter Copley Fielding 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. 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.


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 buildings in the borough of Worthing. Three of these— Castle Goring, 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 t ...
, Park Crescent, Beach House 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 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-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 won a World Architecture Festival award in 2013. A tall ferris wheel was opened in 2019.


Folklore

The Midsummer Tree, an oak, 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 knuckers 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 East Worthing railway station is one of five stations serving the town of Worthing in the county of West Sussex. (The other stations being Worthing, West Worthing, Durrington-on-Sea and Goring-by-Sea). It is down the line from Brighton. The st ...
and
Teville Stream The Teville Stream is a stream which flows through the town of Worthing in West Sussex. Once significantly wider than the current stream, it is now culverted for much of its length. Watercourse The Teville Stream rises at allotments in Tarring, W ...
. According to legend, a tunnel several miles long led from the now-demolished medieval
Offington Hall Offington is a neighbourhood of Worthing, in the borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road 1.6 miles (2.5 km) northwest of the town centre. Today, the area is a residential suburb of Worthing. Offington was part ...
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 The Worthing Downland Estate, ''Worthing Downs'' or ''Worthing Downland'', is an area of land in the South Downs National Park in West Sussex, England, close to the town of Worthing. It was bought by the public, following threats to the beauty s ...
, Cissbury Ring and Highdown Hill. The town also contains a number of parks and gardens, many laid out in the
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
and Edwardian eras. * 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. * 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 England, 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. Histo ...
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. 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 The Times, ''Times'' obituary noted the three essential themes in her work as "the nature of Man; the 'horseness' of horses; and the ...
. * 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 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. * Victoria Park – was donated by the Heene Estate to the poor of Worthing in commemoration of the death of Queen Victoria. (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 Worthing Pride is an annual LGBTQ+ Pride celebration held in the town of Worthing, West Sussex, England. The event began in 2018. It raises money for local charities. Worthing Pride 2022 will raise money for LGBTQ Switchboard, a charity prov ...
has been celebrated in the town since 2018. From 2008 to 2015, Worthing was the home to the
International Birdman The International Birdman was a series of English competitions held in the West Sussex towns of Bognor Regis, Selsey and Worthing. The competition involved human 'birdmen' attempting to fly off the end of a pier into the sea for prize money. The ...
competition. In January, the ancient custom of wassailing 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, apple cider and apple cake, followed by fireworks. On May Day, a procession and dancing takes place in Worthing town centre, culminating in the crowning of the May Queen.


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 news ...
'', ''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 television studios based in Southampton, BBC South East 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 or Whitehawk Hill transmitters.
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 station. Launched in 2003 it broadcasts from the Guildbourne Centre on 107.7 FM. Heart Sussex, 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.


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 and kitesurfing. 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 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 per ...
, with around 22 trail-heads within the borough. Both of Worthing's golf clubs, including
Worthing Golf Club Worthing Golf Club is a golf club on the South Downs at Worthing, England. Located close to the Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring in the new South Downs National Park, the club comprises two links golf courses, a 6 hole academy course, a dr ...
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 England, 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. Histo ...
, 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 and the
women's team A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...
play in the Premier Division of the London and South East Women's Regional Football League. 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, N ...
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 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 which has been taking place since June 2016. The free, weekly timed 5 km run had 420 people attending the first event. Alongside Johannesburg and Adelaide, Worthing is one of only three locations in the world to have hosted the men's World Bowls Championship 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'' (1817) is set in the early days of the development of Worthing as a resort. * Mary Shelley, author of '' Frankenstein'', inherited Castle Goring 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'' 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 Royle Family'. * Henty brothers, Australian pioneer farmers including Edward Henty, 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, 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, actress, model. * Nicollette Sheridan, 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, 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, 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, England goalkeeper * Byron Dafoe, National Hockey League goaltender *
Benjamin Bonetti Benjamin Philip Bonetti is a self-help author, NLP Practitioner and hypnotist from England. Career Before starting his self-help and life coaching career, Bonetti was in the British Army. Publications Books * ''How To Stress Less'' Wiley ...
, 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 Saint Ronan's School is an independent school, independent co-educational Preparatory school (UK), preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located in Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 440 pupils, the majority of ...
West Worthing. *
Kenny Tutt Kenny Tutt is a British cook and winner of the MasterChef 2018 UK TV show competition. His winning three-course meal prepared for judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace consisted of: * ''First course: Roast scallops, smoked cauliflower, shimej ...
, 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 Beatrice Hastings was the pen name of Emily Alice Haigh (27 January 1879 – 30 October 1943) an English writer, literary critic, poet and theosophist. Her work was integral to British Magazine ''The New Age'' which she helped edit along with h ...
, 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 Simonswald ( Low Alemannic: ''Simeschwald'') is a town in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Twin towns : Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of B ...
, 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

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links


Worthing Borough Council
* * {{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