History of Worthing
Encyclopedia
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
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.
Stone age
Within 7 miles (11.3 km) of Worthing's town centre lie four of Britain's 14 confirmed NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
flint
Flint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
mines
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
. The oldest of these mines, at Church Hill in Findon
Findon, West Sussex
Findon is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, four miles north of Worthing. The parish has an area of 16.41 km² and a population of 1848 persons ....
, may be one of the earliest known mines in Britain. Thought to date from the 5th millennium BC
5th millennium BC
The 5th millennium BC saw the spread of agriculture from the Near East throughout southern and central Europe.Urban cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia flourished, developing the wheel. Copper ornaments became more common, marking the Chalcolithic. Animal husbandry spread throughout Eurasia,...
and 4th millennium BC
4th millennium BC
The 4th millennium BC saw major changes in human culture. It marked the beginning of the Bronze Age and of writing.The city states of Sumer and the kingdom of Egypt were established and grew to prominence. Agriculture spread widely across Eurasia...
, these mines represent some of the oldest mines in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, if not the world and predate the great neolithic sites of Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
and Avebury
Avebury
Avebury is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles which is located around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, south west England. Unique amongst megalithic monuments, Avebury contains the largest stone circle in Europe, and is one of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain...
. In the Neolithic period, the South Downs above Worthing was one of Britain's largest and most important flint-mining centres. These extensive flint mines which include the considerable mines at Cissbury
Cissbury
Cissbury is the name of a prehistoric site near the village of Findon around 5 miles north of Worthing in the English county of West Sussex. The site is managed by the National Trust....
are in many ways comparable to the vast flint mines of Spiennes
Spiennes
Spiennes is a Walloon village in the municipality of Mons, Belgium.It is well known for its neolithic flint mines, which are on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2000....
in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
which have been given World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status.
The secondary southern escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
of the South Downs close to Worthing, south of the main ridge of the Downs (formed by hills such as Steep Down, Cissbury, Church Hill and Harrow Hill) is most visible west of the River Adur
River Adur
The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river was formerly navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large port, but over time the river valley became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters nearer...
and it is this flint which is especially hard and durable and hence valuable in Neolithic times. Flint from these early mines played a significant role in enabling the "Neolithic Revolution
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution. It was the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. Archaeological data indicates that various forms of plants and animal domestication evolved independently in 6 separate locations worldwide circa...
" to take place across southern Britain, gradually replacing the nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life of the mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
period with the settled agricultural way of life of the neolithic period as the extensive wildwood forest that covered much of Britain began to be felled. There is evidence that flint from the mines around Worthing was traded across southern Britain, particularly to the populous areas on the Wessex downland.
The flint mines were at Harrow Hill in Patching
Patching
Patching is a small village and civil parish that lies amidst the fields and woods of the southern slopes of the South Downs in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It has a history going back to before the Domesday survey of 1087. It is located four miles to the east of Arundel, to the...
(mined from 4250 BC to 3500 BC), Blackpatch Hill in Clapham
Clapham, West Sussex
Clapham is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. The parish has a population of 317 in an area of . It lies three miles north of Angmering on the A280 road and north of the A27 crossroads...
(4350 BC to 3500 BC), Church Hill in Findon
Findon, West Sussex
Findon is a village and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England, four miles north of Worthing. The parish has an area of 16.41 km² and a population of 1848 persons ....
(4500 BC to 3750 BC)— all outside the present borough of Worthing—and Cissbury, which is within the borough and which had between 100 and 200 mineshafts, making it Britain's second largest after Grimes Graves
Grimes Graves
Grime's Graves is a large Neolithic flint mining complex near Brandon in England close to the border between Norfolk and Suffolk. It was worked between around circa 3000 BC and circa 1900 BC, although production may have continued well into the Bronze and Iron Ages owing to the low cost of flint...
in Norfolk. Tolmere, near Findon, has been identified as a probable site. Sites at High Salvington and Mount Carvey, within the borough, and at nearby Myrtlegrove and Roger's Farm in Patching and Findon, have all been identified as possible, but cannot be confirmed because of plough disturbance. The flints would have been used to make tools such as axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
s, scrapers
Scraper (archaeology)
In archaeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked stone tool that defies classification, most lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of...
and arrow heads. At Harrow Hill, dozens of ox skulls have been found, suggesting ritual slaughter—possibly each autumn, as many animals would not have survived the winter. In the mineshafts, drawings of an Earth Spirit
Mother goddess
Mother goddess is a term used to refer to a goddess who represents motherhood, fertility, creation or embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother.Many different goddesses have...
and phallus
Phallus
A phallus is an erect penis, a penis-shaped object such as a dildo, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic...
es may have been used to protect the fertility of the mines. At Blackpatch, remains of what appear to be miners' huts have been found. At Cissbury, there were more than 270 pits, and the flint was used locally and exported—possibly as far as the eastern Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
. Some shafts extended up to 75 feet (22.9 m) below the surface. Four engravings, of a bull and deer, have been found in a shaft of one of the Cissbury flint mines. This is significant as few pieces of representational art survive from the British Neolithic period.
For much of the neolithic period of the stone age, it is likely that the Worthing area was at the borders of territory of two tribes, one based at the causewayed enclosure
Causewayed enclosure
A causewayed enclosure is a type of large prehistoric earthwork common to the early Neolithic in Europe. More than 100 examples are recorded in France and 70 in England, while further sites are known in Scandinavia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Slovakia.The term "causewayed enclosure" is...
at Whitehawk Camp
Whitehawk Camp
Whitehawk Camp is one of the earliest signs of human habitation in Brighton and Hove, Sussex, England. It is the remains of a Neolithic causewayed camp inhabited sometime around 2700 BCE and is a scheduled ancient monument...
(in modern Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
) and one centred on the causwayed enclosure at the Trundle
Trundle (hill fort)
Trundle is an Iron Age hill fort on Saint Roche's Hill about north of Chichester, Sussex, England. Trundle is one of just four hill forts built in Sussex. The fort was built around a Neolithic causewayed enclosure, of which very little can be seen on the ground.- History :St...
(near modern Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
). However the apparent absence of settlement in the area at this time and other evidence from the mines themselves adds to speculation that the mines were special places, with sacred areas surrounding the mines. Such an area may have existed between the rivers Adur and Arun where the mines were situated on a block of downland that does not appear to contain any other contemporary monument. The high status of this area, compared to the rest of Sussex, may have continued on into the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Henges seem to have existed on the Downs near Worthing at Blackpatch, Church Hill, Cissbury and also at Cock Hill, midway between the neolithic mining areas of Harrow Hill and Blackpatch. At Cock Hill lies a henge dating from the late neolithic period, 48 metres in diameter, roughly circular, with a single entrance to the south-east. Various round barrows have been found on the Downs near Worthing close to Blackpatch and Church Hill.
Neolithic axes from the mines have been found away from the Downs in various locations across the modern town of Worthing including at Homefield Park, Heene Road, Broadwater, Pond Lane and Seldens Way. A site near the summit of West Hill in High Salvington
High Salvington
High Salvington is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies north of the A27 2.9 miles northwest of the town centre....
, between Honeysuckle Lane and the covered reservoir, has been identified as the possible location of neolithic huts, possibly used by flint miners.
Bronze age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
barrows have been found within the modern borough of Worthing, close to Cissbury on the Downs. The enclosures at Highdown Hill
Highdown Hill
Highdown Hill is a prominent hill in the South Downs, as its name suggests, reaching a height of . The summit of the hill and its western slopes lie in the parish of Ferring in the Arun district, while its eastern slopes lie in the borough of Worthing. It is a popular spot for picnickers,...
are believed to have been built at this time. Judging from the pottery and metalwork finds, Highdown Hill was a high status settlement at the time. Various artefacts, including tools, metal and pottery have been found in the Worthing area. In 1877 a large collection of Bronze Age cakes, palstaves and axes was found in a Bronze Age pot near Ham Road in East Worthing.
Iron age
The hill fortHill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
at Cissbury Ring dates from the middle Iron Age. Covering an extensive 60 acres (24 ha), this is one of the largest iron age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
hill forts in Britain and indeed Europe.
During the Iron Age and earlier, the area between the rivers Adur and Arun was a special area, with high status and ritual significance. From the Bronze Age, Highdown Hill had special status and the enclosures at Chanctonbury and Harrow Hill may have been important sites of ritual performance. In the middle Iron Age, Cissbury was built and in the late Iron Age, this sector of the downs housed the Lancing Down 'shrine'.
In 1842 a boat made from a hollowed-out oak tree was found at low tide in the sand near to Heene Road. It was believed that the boat dated from the Iron Age.
Roman times
Roman coins, tiles and pottery have been discovered in several parts of the town. Several roads in the Worthing area date from the Roman era or earlier, including the Roman road from Noviomagus ReginorumNoviomagus Reginorum
Noviomagus Reginorum was the Roman town which is today called Chichester, situated in the modern English county of West Sussex. Alternative versions of the name include Noviomagus Regnorum, Regnentium and Regentium..-Development:...
(modern Chichester) to Novus Portus, (possibly modern Portslade
Portslade
Portslade is the name of an area of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. Portslade Village, the original settlement a mile inland to the north, was built up in the 16th century...
near Brighton) which ran through Durrington
Durrington, West Sussex
Durrington is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is situated near the A27 road, northwest of the town centre.Durrington means 'Dēora's farmstead', Dēora presumably being the name of a Saxon settler...
and Broadwater.
It is likely that several of Worthing's roads were laid out during this period in a grid form marking out a field system
Field system
The study of field systems in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature.-Types of field system:...
known as 'centuriation'. Worthing's High Street lies at the south of a long straight trackway that stretches from high on the South Downs to the sea and northwards into the Weald
Weald
The Weald is the name given to an area in South East England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It should be regarded as three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in the centre; the clay "Low Weald" periphery; and the Greensand Ridge which...
. The track would have been used as a droveway (for transhumance
Transhumance
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...
) and can still be walked today along much of its length. Coming off the Downs it is now known as Charmandean Lane, which turns into a footpath known as the Quashetts, which becomes High Street and finally the Steyne before reaching the sea. The track would have touched the western shoreline of the 'broad water' that is the sea inlet from which Broadwater gets its name. The inlet would have existed for centuries but disappeared in the 18th century. It is likely that Worthing's grid system would have been based on this ancient track. The grid system would have been used to demarcate plots of land for fields and development.
The modern South Farm Road was once a track running north-south, parallel to the Quashetts path. It lies exactly 20 actus
Ancient Roman units of measurement
The ancient Roman units of measurement were built on the Hellenic system with Egyptian, Hebrew, and Mesopotamian influences. The Roman units were comparatively consistent and well documented.-Length:Notes...
(about 710 metres) from the Quashetts path. 100 actus (about 3,550 metres) to the west of the Quashetts track lies the remains of a track that is probably Celtic in origin, also running north-south, by Stanhope Lodge, now on Poplar Road in Durrington. The track once marked the border between the parishes of Goring
Goring
- People :* Göring, several people* Charles Buckman Goring, a criminologist* Butch Goring, retired Canadian hockey player*George Goring, Lord Goring*Frederick S. Goring, First Lord Mayor of The Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake- Places :...
and Durrington. Today the line of this track marks the boundary between Clapham and Worthing. Another modern road that appears to be on the Roman grid system is Tarring Road (east-west), the ancient boundary between Heene
Heene
Heene is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A259 road 0.6 miles west of the town centre.Heene comes from the word Hīun or Hīwun meaning family or household....
and Tarring. South of Tarring Road (and the Teville stream is would have run alongside), the boundaries in the grid seem to be 24 actus apart from each other. The ancient boundary between Heene (later West Worthing) and Broadwater (later Worthing) lies 24 actus west of the Quashetts track. George V Avenue (north-south), the ancient boundary between Tarring (later West Worthing) and Goring lies 72 actus from the Quashetts track.
There is evidence of several buildings from the Roman era in Worthing. The town's Museum and Art Gallery
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery
Worthing Museum and Art Gallery is in the centre of Worthing near the grade II* listed St Paul's and is the largest museum in West Sussex. It celebrated its centenary in 2008.-Collections & Displays:...
is built on the site of a Roman farmhouse. A Roman settlement existed along the modern Brighton Road between Merton Road and Navarino Road. Remains of a Roman villa
Roman villa
A Roman villa is a villa that was built or lived in during the Roman republic and the Roman Empire. A villa was originally a Roman country house built for the upper class...
and bath house have been found on the site of Northbrook College
Northbrook College
Northbrook College is a further education and higher education college and principal provider of work-related Further Education in Worthing and nearby Shoreham-by-Sea in West Sussex....
's main Goring campus. A Roman milepost was found in modern Grand Avenue in West Worthing, possibly indicating another Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
. A Roman cemetery existed between Chesswood Road and the railway line and burials dating from the early 4th century have also been found near Park Crescent. Roman pottery and coins have been found at Stonehurst Road, at land south of Ringmer Road in Tarring and on the Upper Brighton Road. Some Romano-British
Romano-British
Romano-British culture describes the culture that arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest of AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a people of Celtic language and...
houses have been excavated in the Titnore Woods area of Durrington. Several small houses at the hill fort of Cissbury Ring on the Downs north of the town would have been in use during the Roman period.
Just beyond the boundaries of the modern town of Worthing, a Romano-British shrine existed at Muntham Court (now by the site of Worthing Crematorium). A Roman villa and bath-house also existed at Highdown and at nearby Angmering
Angmering
Angmering is a large village and civil parish between Littlehampton and Worthing in West Sussex, England. It is located approximately two miles north of the English Channel; Worthing and Littlehampton are about four miles to the east and west respectively.Angmering railway station is miles away...
. The nationally-important Patching hoard of Roman coins that was found in 1997 is the latest find of Roman coins found in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, probably deposited after 475 AD, well after the Roman departure from Britain around 410 AD. The hoard can be found in the town's Museum and Art Gallery.
Saxon times
Around 450, Highdown was being used as a cemetery by the South Saxons. Almost 100 graves were found, possibly of Saxon warriors who died in the Saxon invasion of the area. Highdown continued to be used for some time for burials and cremations of Saxons. It is significant that Highdown was being used as a cemetery by pagan Saxons at the same time that Romano-British villa at nearby Northbrook, less than a mile away was still in use by local Celtic Christians. This suggests that Celtic Britons and Saxons were able to live side-by-side in relative harmony.The Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
settled nearby Goring
Goring by Sea
Goring-by-Sea is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England, about west of Worthing town centre. Since 1929 Goring has been part of the Borough of Worthing....
and Sompting
Sompting
Sompting is a village and civil parish in the Adur District of West Sussex, England, located between Lancing and Worthing, at the foot of the southern slope of the South Downs. Twentieth century development has linked it to Lancing. The civil parish covers an area of 10.35 square kilometres and has...
and by the 13th century the settlement, then known as Wortinge, was populated primarily by farmers and mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
fishermen. The hamlet of Worthing was originally part of the larger parish of Broadwater
Broadwater, West Sussex
Broadwater is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. Situated between the South Downs and the English Channel, Broadwater was once a parish in its own right and included Worthing when the latter was a small fishing hamlet. Before its incorporation into the Borough of...
. Other nearby villages to later become part of Worthing include Tarring, Salvington, Goring, Heene and Durrington, as well as small parts of the parishes of Findon and Sompting.
Droveways (transhumance trackways) that extend from Tarring, Broadwater and nearby Sompting to grazing areas in the Weald via Cissbury Ring and Buncton near Wiston
Wiston, West Sussex
Wiston is a scattered village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A283 road northwest of Steyning.The parish covers an area of...
are believed to date from this period or earlier.
Medieval times
Following the Norman conquest, William de BraoseWilliam de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber
William de Braose , First Lord of Bramber was previously lord of Briouze, Normandy. He was granted lands in England by William the Conqueror soon after he and his followers had invaded and controlled Saxon England.- Norman victor :De Braose was given extensive lands in Sussex by 1073...
gave the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Worthing (then known as Ordinges) to Robert le Sauvage, whose descendants held Worthing for around 200 years. Worthing is first mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as two separate hamlets, Ordinges and Mordinges, when it had a population of just 22. By 1218 the Ordinges had become known as Wurddingg.
The county of Sussex was divided into administrative divisions known as 'rapes'. The manor of Worthing, in common with most of the modern borough of Worthing, was part of the rape of Bramber
Rape of Bramber
The Rape of Bramber is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. Bramber is a former barony, originally based around the castle of Bramber and its village, overlooking the river Adur.-History:...
. In the 13th century, the manor of Worthing was owned by Margaret de Gaddesden, a descendant of Robert le Sauvage. Margaret de Gaddesden later left her husband, John de Camoys, to live with Sir William Paynel, who she later married. It is likely that as a consequence of leaving her first husband for another man she then gave the manor of Worthing to Easebourne Priory
Easebourne Priory
-References:...
near Midhurst
Midhurst
Midhurst is a market town and civil parish in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, with a population of 4,889 in 2001. The town is situated on the River Rother and is home to the ruin of the Tudor Cowdray House and the stately Victorian Cowdray Park...
, while in 1332 Sir William gave the nearby manor of Cokeham to Hardham Priory
Hardham Priory
Hardham Priory was a priory in West Sussex, England. It was founded around 1248, but fell into disrepair in the late 15th century and was disbanded during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Its remains stand in an area of water meadows next to the River Arun, southwest of the village of Hardham....
near Pulborough
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 A29 and the east-west roads.The village is near the...
. By giving away their property to the church it is likely that Margaret and Sir William were acting in fear of their souls as the medieval church taught damnation was likely.
In 1300 and again in 1493, Worthing is recorded as having a harbour, possibly in the estuary of the Teville stream. Worthing harbour was a member of Shoreham Port
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
in 1324.
Worthing was owned by the Easebourne Priory until the dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1539. It then became the property of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu
Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu
Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu KG PC was an English peer during the Tudor period.He was the eldest son of Sir Anthony Browne...
, whose family held the manor of Worthing for over 200 years.
18th and 19th centuries
It was in the late 18th century that Worthing began to attract visitors. John Luther, from LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, started the trend, building a large lodging house around 1759. In 1789, George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick
George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick
George Guy Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick, 4th Earl Brooke , styled Lord Brooke from 1818 to 1853, was an English Tory politician....
, bought the house and renamed it Warwick House. With a warm climate and calm seas, it benefited from the Edwardian fashion for sea cures. Over the course of the next century Worthing became a fashionable resort on the circuit along with the towns of Bath, Brighton, Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
, Cheltenham
Cheltenham
Cheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
and Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
.
Royal visits from Princess Amelia
Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom
Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom was a member of the British Royal Family as the youngest daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom and his queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.-Early life:...
in 1798, Princess Charlotte
Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
Princess Charlotte of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales and Caroline of Brunswick...
in 1807 and Princess Augusta
Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom
The Princess Augusta Sophia was a member of the British Royal Family, second daughter of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was a Princess of the United Kingdom and a Princess of Hanover....
in 1829 did much to make the town popular. The Prince of Wales
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
visited his youngest sister Princess Amelia in Worthing from nearby Brighton. In 1814, Queen Caroline
Caroline of Brunswick
Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was the Queen consort of King George IV of the United Kingdom from 29 January 1820 until her death...
visited Worthing on her way back to live in Brunswick
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
in northern Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In addition, Queen Adelaide
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and of Hanover as spouse of William IV of the United Kingdom. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her.-Early life:Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany...
, wife of King William IV
William IV of the United Kingdom
William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...
stayed in the town in 1849 and in 1861 Queen Marie Amelie of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, wife of King Louis-Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...
of France stayed in the town when exiled from France.
Notable visitors to the fashionable town of Worthing in the 19th century included novelist Ann Radcliffe
Ann Radcliffe
Anne Radcliffe was an English author, and considered the pioneer of the gothic novel . Her style is romantic in its vivid descriptions of landscapes, and long travel scenes, yet the Gothic element is obvious through her use of the supernatural...
, the Duke of Northumberland
Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland
Lieutenant-General Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, FRS was an officer in the British army and later a British peer...
in 1802, Henry Dundas
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville PC and Baron Dunira was a Scottish lawyer and politician. He was the first Secretary of State for War and the last person to be impeached in the United Kingdom....
in 1804, Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
in 1805, Lord Byron in 1806, the Duke of Cumberland
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover
Ernest Augustus I was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death. He was the fifth son and eighth child of George III, who reigned in both the United Kingdom and Hanover...
in 1817, George Eliot
George Eliot
Mary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
in 1855, Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
in 1893 and 1894, who wrote his masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest
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 St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
while staying in the town in 1894, and the future Emperor Maximilian
Maximilian I of Mexico
Maximilian I was the only monarch of the Second Mexican Empire.After a distinguished career in the Austrian Navy, he was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico on April 10, 1864, with the backing of Napoleon III of France and a group of Mexican monarchists who sought to revive the Mexican monarchy...
of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
In 1803 Worthing's population was approximately 2,500 and the hamlet was given town status. Cross Lane was renamed Montague Street and went on to become one of the new town's key thoroughfares. A turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
road was built around this time linking Worthing directly to Horsham
Horsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
and London for the first time.
In the early 19th century, a wall was built separating the fashionable town of Worthing from Heene just to the west. The wall was built from the sea to the banks of the Teville Stream
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:...
, which could only easily be crossed at one point - the bridge at the top of the High Street, close to the Anchor public house (today's Jack Horner). Since the Teville Stream flows east and south to the sea, this effectively gave the town just one point of entry and exit, allowing 'undesirables' to be kept out.
In 1815, two infants' school
School
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools...
s opened, mainly through the efforts of the Revd. W. Davison, from the new St Paul`s Church
St Paul's Church, Worthing
St Paul's Church in Worthing, England, was opened in 1812 as the Worthing Chapel of Ease. It was built so that the residents and visitors to the newly created town of Worthing would not need to travel to the parish church of St Mary in Broadwater...
In the early hours of February 22, 1832, a major smuggling foray took place when 300 kegs of contraband spirits were unloaded at the beach opposite the Steyne. Excise officers chased a group of some two to three hundred men, one of Sussex's last smuggling gangs, up the town's High Street and alleyways (known in the Sussex dialect
Sussex dialect
The Sussex dialect is a dialect that was once widely spoken by those living in the historic county of Sussex in southern England. Much of the distinctive vocabulary of Sussex dialect has now died out...
as twitten
Twitten
Twitten is an old Sussex dialect word, used in both East and West Sussex, for a path or alleyway. It is still in common use. The word is also in common use in the London residential area known as Hampstead Garden Suburb....
s) towards Broadwater. As the group slowed down to climb the gate guarding the bridge over the Teville Stream that would take them out of Worthing into open fields, horse-mounted excise officers opened fire at point-blank range on the crowd, who were armed only with wooden staves. They shot dead William Cowerson of Steyning
Steyning
Steyning is a small town and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles north of Shoreham-by-Sea...
and injured several others. Civil unrest was feared and the military were brought into the town for two years to ensure peace was kept. As with many towns and villages in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
and Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, close proximity to the Continent made the trade of smuggling a lucrative and popular business.
In 1845 the railway was extended from Shoreham to Worthing, linking the town by rail with London and the railway network.
On November 25, 1850 eleven local fishermen were drowned as they set out from the town's beach to save the crew of the barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
the Lalla Rookh, a trading vessel of around 700 tons. The boat was in distress in a storm three miles (5 km) off the coast, and eleven fishermen set out onbaord a small ferry, the Britannia. The Britannia capsized, and a second boat was launched, returning with the news that the Britannia was lost with all lives. Soon afterwards the town's inhabitants subscribed for the town's first lifeboat
Lifeboat (rescue)
A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
.
In the 1880s, Worthing was the scene of several riots and violent incidents as the Salvation Army's work in the town aroused much anger among locals, who objected to the militant anti-drinking stance taken by the Salvation Army.
In 1890 the town received its Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
and became the borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Worthing. Worthing absorbed the neighbouring area of West Worthing and parish of Heene. The first meeting of the new Borough Council (replacing the Worthing Local Board and the West Worthing Commissioners) took place on 10 November 1890, when Worthing elected its first mayor, Alfred Cortis.
In 1893 an outbreak of typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
caused 200 fatalities in the town, after 1,416 people caught the disease. The relatively young council took swift action, and by 1895 the town had a new drainage system.
20th century
Between 1908 and 1910, King Edward VII visited Worthing several times to stay at Beach House
Beach House, Worthing
Beach House in Worthing, England is a Regency beach-side villa, built in 1820 to designs by John Rebecca. It was originally known as Marino Mansion.-History:...
with the Loder family.
Following Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
's invasion of Abyssinia in 1936, Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Haile Selassie and his family were forced out of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
to the United Kingdom. They spent their first six weeks in the UK at the Warnes Hotel, one of the town's top hotels at the time.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a hole was blown through Worthing Pier
Worthing Pier
Worthing Pier is a pier in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Designed by Sir Robert Rawlinson, it was opened on 12 April 1862 and remains open. The pier originally was a simple promenade deck 960 ft long and 15 ft wide...
to prevent it being used as a landing stage in the event of an invasion. Barbed wire was spread across the beach, which was also mined. Canadian soldiers stayed in several parts of the town, including the former site of the town's rugby club in Tarring
Tarring, West Sussex
West Tarring is a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road northwest of the town centre. It is officially called West Tarring or, less commonly, Tarring Peverell, to differentiate it from Tarring Neville near Lewes, but is usually called just...
and at Park Crescent
Park Crescent
Park Crescent may refer to:* Park Crescent, Brighton, England* Park Crescent, London, England* Park Crescent, Worthing, England...
in the town centre. Courtlands, an impressive country house in the Goring area of the town was used as headquarters of the First Canadian Army
First Canadian Army
The First Canadian Army was the senior Canadian operational formation in Europe during the Second World War.The Army was formed in early 1942, replacing the existing unnumbered Canadian Corps, as the growing number of Canadian forces in the United Kingdom necessitated an expansion to two corps...
. In February 1944, the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's 4th Armoured Brigade set up headquarters in the Eardley Hotel by Splash Point. 200 tanks arrived and troops were billeted in and around Steyne Gardens. Historic Beach House was used by the Air Training Corps
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...
. During World War II, food supplies were scarce and rationed. The United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
began construction of a training centre on a 145 acre (0.5867947 km²) site north of the railway near Durrington station, however construction ended when the War finished. The people of Timaru
Timaru
TimaruUrban AreaPopulation:27,200Extent:Former Timaru City CouncilTerritorial AuthorityName:Timaru District CouncilPopulation:42,867 Land area:2,736.54 km² Mayor:Janie AnnearWebsite:...
in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
donated food parcels to the people of Worthing. After the war, the people of Worthing donated a stained glass window to the people of Timaru in thanks for their efforts.
Immediately post-war, Worthing expanded with the Maybridge estate, planned by Charles Cowles-Voysey
Charles Cowles-Voysey
Charles Cowles-Voysey was born in London, UK on 24 June 1889 and died there on 10 April 1981. He was the son of Charles Voysey and was responsible for the design of Kingsley Hall which included a main hall also used for worship, and five rooftop cells for community volunteers.John Brandon-Jones...
. The redbrick housing estate used Prisoner of War labour, and was built between 1948 and 1956.
In the late 20th century many of the town's historic buildings were demolished by planners eager to 'modernise' the town. Notable losses included the town's Theatre Royal, the Old Town Hall, dating from 1834, medieval Offington Hall, the mansion at Charmandean, a medieval fig garden in Tarring and dozens of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
villas throughout the town.
In the late 20th century, Worthing had a significant motor industry. In 1979, Octav Botnar
Octav Botnar
Octav Botnar was a self-made businessman who founded Datsun UK, and a noted philanthropist, who donated over £100 million in his lifetime....
founded Datsun UK, later Nissan UK, in the West Durrington
Durrington
-United Kingdom:*Durrington, West Sussex*Durrington, Wiltshire*Durrington Walls, a prehistoric henge monument*Durrington-on-Sea railway station...
area of the town. In the 1970s and 1980s, Dutton Cars
Dutton Cars
Dutton Cars, based in Worthing, Sussex, England, was a maker of kit cars between 1970 and 1989. In terms of numbers of kits produced, it was for a time the largest kit car manufacturer in the world....
produced kit cars from their Worthing headquarters, and for a time was the largest manufacturer of kit cars in the world. The company went on to produce two models of amphibious car, that could be 'driven' across land and sea. International Automotive Design (IAD) was one of the UK's major design houses for cars, producing prototypes for manufacturers such as Mazda
Mazda
is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
, including the first Mazda MX-5
Mazda MX-5
The MX-5, also known as Miata in North America and Eunos Roadster in Japan, is a lightweight two-seater roadster, of front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, built by Mazda in Hiroshima, Japan. The model was introduced in 1989 at the Chicago Auto Show...
. In 1994, the company was bought by Daewoo
Daewoo
Daewoo or the Daewoo Group was a major South Korean chaebol . It was founded on 22 March 1967 as Daewoo Industrial and was dismantled by the Korean government in 1999...
who continued to develop cars at their Worthing Technical Centre, including the Daewoo Nubira
Daewoo Nubira
The Daewoo Nubira is a compact car produced by South Korean automaker Daewoo Motors from 1997 to 2008.The first generation car, model J100, was released to the market in 1997 as Daewoo Nubira, and it was sold until 1999. It was developed as a replacement for the GM T platform-based Daewoo Nexia and...
and the Daewoo Matiz
Daewoo Matiz
-M100 :The production of Daewoo Matiz started in 1998 and it was sold in South Korea and many European markets with the code name M100. The exterior design is based on the Lucciola, a Fiat Cinquecento concept by Italdesign Giugiaro which had been rejected by Fiat. The 0.8-litre gasoline engine and...
plus trucks and vans, one of which became the LDV Maxus . In 2001, the Worthing centre was bought by TWR Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing
Tom Walkinshaw Racing , was an auto racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976 by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.-History:TWR started by modifying BMW 3.0 CSLs, but soon was contracted to head Mazda's works program in the British Touring Car Championship. The TWR developed RX-7, with Win...
which went out of business in 2003.
21st century
The town's council approved Worthing Evolution, a Masterplan for the town's regeneration, in 2006 after extensive public consultation.Since May 2006, environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
protesters have been tree sitting
Tree sitting
Tree sitting is a form of environmentalist civil disobedience in which a protester sits in a tree, usually on a small platform built for the purpose, to protect it from being cut down...
at Titnore Wood
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....
, in the Durrington area of the town. The action is in protest at plans to build houses and a road-widening scheme through ancient woodland
Ancient woodland
Ancient woodland is a term used in the United Kingdom to refer specifically to woodland that has existed continuously since 1600 or before in England and Wales . Before those dates, planting of new woodland was uncommon, so a wood present in 1600 was likely to have developed naturally...
on the edge of the town.
From February 2008, Worthing will host the reopened public inquiry
Public inquiry
A Tribunal of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body in Common Law countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland or Canada. Such a public inquiry differs from a Royal Commission in that a public inquiry accepts evidence and conducts its hearings in a more...
into the proposed national park for the South Downs
South Downs National Park
The South Downs National Park is England's newest National Park, having become fully operational on 1 April 2011. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east through the counties of Hampshire, West Sussex and East Sussex...
.
In July 2009, Transition Town Worthing (TTW) was established to engage the Worthing community in responding to the twin challenges of climate change and the end of cheap oil, and encourage participation in projects to enable Worthing to become more self-reliant and sustainable.
In the first decade of the 21st century, Worthing was one of the only towns in the UK to have had various illegal cannabis "cafés", all of which were subsequently closed. Chris Baldwin (a Legalise Cannabis Alliance activist) first opened one in a back room of his shop, "Bongchuffa", on Rowlands Road. It was named "The Quantum Leaf" and there was so much demand that he opened another called "Buddies", and simultaneously set up "The Herb Connection". Both cafés were subject to continual police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
raids
Dawn raid
A police raid or dawn raid is a visit by the police, immigration officers or other officials in the early morning, hoping to use the element of surprise to arrest targets that they think may hide evidence, resist arrest, be politically sensitive, or simply be elsewhere during the day.-Germany:Dawn...
. The first was shut when the landlord withdrew the lease for the property shortly followed by the second which closed due to police intercepting users on their way out of the property.
Another such establishment, operating in a less obvious, but still public manner was also opened and operated freely in Worthing for over two years, by a group not associated with the LCA and was continually raided. The site of this cafe was reduced to rubble within months of the last raid, and is now the site of modern flats.