West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley, and the county town is the city of Chichester.
Lancing is a large coastal village and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex, England, on the western edge of the Adur Valley. It occupies part of the narrow central section of the Sussex coastal plain between smaller Sompting to the west, larger Shoreham-by-Sea to the east, and the parish of Coombes to the north. Excluding definitive suburbs it may have the largest undivided village cluster in Britain. However, its economy is commonly analysed as integral to the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. Its settled area beneath the South Downs National Park covers 3.65 square miles, the majority of its land.
The Adur is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river, which is 20 miles (32 km) long, was once navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large Saxon port, but by the 11th century the lower river became silted up and the port moved down to the deeper waters at the mouth of the river in Shoreham-by-Sea.
Steyning is a 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 (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea.
Bramber is a former manor, village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It has a ruined mediaeval castle which was the caput of a large feudal barony. Bramber is located on the northern edge of the South Downs and on the west side of the River Adur. Nearby are the communities of Steyning to the west and Upper Beeding to the east, and the other side of the river. The closest historical connection, however, is with the village of Botolphs to the south.
Kingston by Sea, also known as Kingston Buci, Kingston Bucii or simply Kingston, is a small area in the Adur district of West Sussex, England. Although it is now part of a continuous urban area, its origins lay in an ancient village and parish church between Southwick to the east, Shoreham-by-Sea to the west and the mouth of the River Adur to the south. St Julian's Church survives, and its parish perpetuates the ancient "Kingston Buci" name.
Botolphs, formerly known as Annington, is a tiny village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bramber, in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is in the Adur Valley 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Steyning on the road between Steyning and Coombes. Botolphs lies on the South Downs Way long-distance footpath. In 1931 the parish had a population of 64. On 1 April 1933 the parish was abolished and merged with Bramber.
Boundstone Community College was a co-educational comprehensive school for pupils aged 11 to 18, with around 1,000 pupils, including over 100 in the Sixth Form, which served the communities of Lancing and Sompting. The school closed on 31 August 2009, being replaced by the Sir Robert Woodard Academy.
The Rape of Bramber is one of the rapes, the traditional sub-divisions unique to the historic county of Sussex in England. It is the smallest Sussex rape by area. Bramber is a former barony whose original seat was the castle of Bramber and its village, overlooking the river Adur.
The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, also known as St Mary the Virgin Church and St Mary's Church, is the Church of England parish church of Sompting in the Adur district of West Sussex. It stands on a rural lane north of the urban area that now surrounds the village, and retains much 11th- and 12th-century structure. Its most important architectural feature is the Saxon tower topped by a Rhenish helm, a four-sided pyramid-style gabled cap that is uncommon in England. English Heritage lists the church at Grade I for its architecture and history.
St Michael and All Angels Church is an Anglican church in the town of Southwick in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Some Saxon-era structural work is still visible despite rebuilding work in the 12th and 13th centuries and in more recent times; and a church may have existed on the site as early as the 10th century—before the ancient settlement of Southwick even took that name. The church has been damaged by fire and bombing, but is still in active use as the area's parish church. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
St Nicolas Church is an Anglican church in Old Shoreham, an ancient inland settlement that is now part of the town of Shoreham-by-Sea in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It was founded on a riverside site by Anglo-Saxons at the start of the 10th century, possibly on the site of a 5th-century predecessor. Some Saxon-era structural elements remain despite 12th-century additions made when Shoreham became prosperous, further extension in the 14th century and a Victorian restoration. The cruciform structure, with its solid central tower, features some unusual Norman-era carving. English Heritage has listed it at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.
Erringham chapel is a former place of worship in the deserted medieval village of Old Erringham, north of Shoreham-by-Sea in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Founded in the 11th century as a chapel of ease to St Nicolas' Church in the Saxon riverside village of Old Shoreham, it was in use for several centuries until depopulation caused Old Erringham to become unviable as a settlement. The chapel fell into ruin, and its remains have been incorporated into a barn on the farm which now occupies the site of the village. English Heritage has listed the remaining structure at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
St James the Less Church is the Anglican parish church of Lancing, an ancient village which has been absorbed into the modern town of Lancing in the district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. It was founded in the 12th century in the most northerly of the three settlements in Lancing parish, which has Saxon origins. The present building is mostly 13th-century in appearance, and structural work has been carried out several times since—particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries, when the church was restored from a ruinous condition. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade I for its architectural and historical importance.
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.
The district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex, has 119 buildings with listed status. The urbanised southern part of the district forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, and most listed structures are in the three main centres of population: Southwick, Shoreham-by-Sea and Lancing. The towns have grown residentially and industrially in the 20th century, but all three have ancient origins as villages and manors on the banks of the River Adur and the English Channel coast. The rest of Adur district's territory is remote downland countryside with scattered farms and hamlets; some of their buildings also have listed status.
The Grade I listed Saxon church of St Botolph's at Botolphs, West Sussex, England, is situated in the valley of the River Adur and is now part of the Church of England parish of Beeding and Bramber with Botolphs. An earlier dedication to St Peter de Vetere Ponte is now lost, like the bridge over the Adur from which it took this ancient name. The church serves the mostly depopulated hamlet of Botolphs in the Horsham district of West Sussex. The church has fragments of medieval wall paintings. Architectural historian Ian Nairn comments that the Jacobean pulpit is "notable in a county which is poor in 17th century fittings".
Sompting Abbotts Preparatory School is a historic West Sussex independent school in Sompting, near Worthing and Steyning. It educates children of both sexes aged 2 to 13. The school sits in parkland of 30 acres, which includes woodland, chalk grassland slopes and a pond.
Sussex in the High Middle Ages includes the history of Sussex from the Norman Conquest in 1066 until the death of King John, considered by some to be the last of the Angevin kings of England, in 1216. It was during the Norman period that Sussex achieved its greatest importance in comparison with other English counties. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Sussex was on the main route between England and Normandy, and the lands of the Anglo-Norman nobility in what is now western France. The growth in Sussex's population, the importance of its ports and the increased colonisation of the Weald were all part of changes as significant to Sussex as those brought by the neolithic period, by the Romans and the Saxons. Sussex also experienced the most radical and thorough reorganisation of land in England, as the Normans divided the county into five tracts of lands called rapes. Although Sussex may have been divided into rapes earlier in its history, under the Normans they were clearly administrative and fiscal units. Before the Norman Conquest Sussex had the greatest concentration of lands belonging to the family of Earl Godwin. To protect against rebellion or invasion, the scattered Saxon estates in Sussex were consolidated into the rapes as part of William the Conqueror's 'Channel march'.
