Worthing

Worthing is the largest town and a local government district in West Sussex, England. It has a population of almost 100,000 and is situated between the coast and the South Downs. It is often considered a retirement town, and has the third busiest crematorium in Europe; it has also had an active underground culture for many years, though. The Worthing Workshop (a late-60s meeting place for musicians, actors and poets whose famous sons include The Damned’s Brian James, Leo Sayer, Billy Idol, Martin Quittenton (who wrote Rod Stewart’s Maggie May) and Track Record’s supremo Ian Grant); Deadline (Featuring Jamie Hewlett's Tank Girl); and more recently the Revolutionary Arts Groop .

History of Worthing

• There is evidence of habitation in the area since the Stone Age, when it appears to have been one of the most important flint mining centers in the country. Artifacts including Bronze Age tools and metal and coins and pottery from the Iron Age have been found.
• Worthing is first mentioned in the Domesday Book when it had a population of just 22.
• Roman coins, tiles and pottery have been discovered in several parts of the town.
• The Saxons settled nearby Goring by Sea and Sompting and by the 13th Century the settlement, then known as Wortinge, was populated primarily by farmers and mackerel fishermen. Nearby Tarring was the larger settlement.
• The name is derived from a natural annual phenomenon. Seaweed beds off nearby Bognor Regis are ripped up by summer storms and prevailing Atlantic currents deposit it on the beach. A rich source of nitrates, it makes good fertilizer. The decaying weed was sought by farmers from the surrounding area. Thus the town became known as Wort (weed) inge (people).
• In the late 18th Century that Worthing began to attract visitors. With a warm climate and calm seas, it benefited from the Edwardian fashion for sea cures.
• In 1803 Worthing's population was approximately 2,500 and the hamlet was given town status.
• In 1890 the town received its Royal Charter and became the Borough of Worthing.