Wicks of Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town in West Sussex situated at the foot of the South Downs. To the east is the seaside resort of Brighton and to the west is the city of Chichester.
Worthing remained an agricultural and fishing hamlet for centuries until the arrival of wealthy visitors in the 1750’s. Royals, authors, playwrights and other literary figures began holidaying in Worthing to experience the therapeutic effects of sea bathing. Worthing was much quieter than the neighbouring Brighton and was more suited to invalids and the aged. The town of Worthing expanded quickly, new elegant buildings were constructed, libraries, theatres and hotels sprang up. The railways reached Worthing in 1845, linking the town by rail with London. |
Worthing was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1890 and many of the surrounding villages were absorbed into the borough of Worthing. Broadwater parish was once the core of Worthing and the settlement at Worthing was actually once a hamlet of Broadwater.
After the late 18th century Broadwater was increasingly dominated, and finally engulfed, by the growth of Worthing. Broadwater is now a neighbourhood of the borough of Worthing. Heene is also a neighbourhood of the borough of Worthing, once part of the parish of West Tarring, in 1890 it became part of borough of Worthing. |
Formerly known as New Shoreham, Shoreham-by-Sea is a seaside town and port in West Sussex, bordered on the north by the South Downs, on the west by the open valley of the River Adur and on the south by the river and Shoreham Beach on the English Channel.
From the late 18th century onwards, the improvement of the harbour and the growing populations of Brighton to the east and Worthing to the west, neither of which had a harbour, greatly increased Shoreham’s trade and its reputation as ship-builders and mariners. |