In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Worthing like this:
WORTHING, a town, two chapelries, and a district, in Sussex. The town stands on the coast, adjacent to the South Coast railway, 11 miles W by S of Brighton; is in Broad water parish; was only a small fishing-village till about the end of last century; came into notice as a watering-place, through visits to it of the Princess Amelia in 1798 and the Princess Charlotte in 1807; grew steadily in public favour from the excellencies of its climate and of its bathing-facilities; was visited, in 1849, by the Dowager Queen Adelaide; is now a seat of-petty sessions and a polling place; occupies flat ground, sheltered by an amphitheatre of chalk downs; comprises spacious, well built, cleanly streets; includes an open space of 3 acres called the Steyne, and a shore-esplanade nearly 2 miles long; carries on a fishery of herrings and mackerels, chiefly for the London market; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. ...
station with telegraph, two banking offices, four hotels, good bathing-appliances, good sanitary arrangements, baths and assembly-rooms of 1866, a corn exchange, a coastguard station, an iron-pier 960 feet long, erected in 1862 at a cost of £4,182, three churches of 1812, 1843, and 1868, three dissenting chapels, a literary institution with library and reading room, four public schools, a school-college, two suites of alms houses, and a weekly market on Saturday. The pop., in 1869, was estimated at 7,500; the house s, at 1,250. Pop. in 1851, 5,370; in 1861, 5,805. Houses, 1,051.-The chapelries are Worthing and Christchurch; and the latter was constituted in 1855. The living of W. is a p. curacy, and that ofis a vicarage, in the diocese of Chichester. Valne of W., £150; of C., £300. Patron of both, the Rector of Broadwater.—The district comprehends Broadwater, Little Hampton, and Arundel sub-districts. Acres, 42,457. Poor rates in 1863, £9,673. Pop. in 1851, 18,746; in 1861, 18,921. Houses, 3,722. Marriages in 1866, 158; births, 620,-of which 38 were illegitimate; deaths, 432,-of which 121 were at ages under 5 years, and 12 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 1,22 9; births, 4,966; deaths, 3,372. The places of worship, in 1851, were 25 of the Church of England, with 8,682 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 1,280 s.; 3 of Wesleyans, with 802 s.; 3 undefined, with 451 s.; and 1 of Roman Catholics with 80 s. The schools were 22 public day-schools, with 1,666 scholars, 35 private day-schools, with 753 s.; 23 Sunday schools, with 1,572 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 12 s. The district includes East Preston and Arundel poor-law unions, and parts of two others; and has workhouse s in East Preston and Arundel.
Worthing through time
Click here for graphs and data of how Worthing has changed over two centuries. For statistics for historical units named after Worthing go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Worthing in Sussex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/140
Date accessed: 19th April 2024
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