Growth of the town.
In the 18th century, and
probably earlier, the hamlet of Worthing comprised
the modern High, North, and Warwick streets. (fn. 34)
There is some archaeological evidence for a settlement at the south end of High Street between the
13th and 16th centuries. (fn. 35) One building dated 1762,
of flint with brick dressings, survived in High
Street in 1945, (fn. 36) but in 1978 the earliest surviving
houses there were of the early 19th century: a small
group on the east side and one larger house in
Upper High Street. Some buildings possibly of the
18th century survived in 1978 at the east end of
Warwick Street. South of the hamlet, on the
common which lay south of the modern shoreline,
fishing 'shops' were recorded in the 18th century, as
well as a building said to be a former court-house. (fn. 37)
There may also have been an inn. (fn. 38) There seems
also to have been scattered settlement further west,
for the modern Victoria inn in Montague Street is
perhaps 17th-century in origin. (fn. 39)
The building of lodging-houses at Worthing is
recorded in the 1790s (fn. 40) but not their location. One
grander house dated from the same period. In the
1780s (fn. 41) a marine villa was built at the south end of
High Street on its east side, which after enlargement
in 1790 for George Greville, earl of Warwick
(d. 1816), (fn. 42) was known as Warwick House. During
the early 19th century it was the principal house in
Worthing, being let during the season to various
distinguished visitors. (fn. 43) The building, which was
demolished in 1896, was of flint with yellow brick
dressings, facing south. Its original staircase
survived in 1977 in a house in Warwick Street. (fn. 44)
Between 1798 and c. 1812 the town expanded very
rapidly, (fn. 45) probably accounting for most of the
threefold increase in the number of houses in
Broadwater parish between 1801 and 1811, (fn. 46) and
presumably fully meeting the need for extra
accommodation expressed in 1802 and 1805. (fn. 47)
Early development was around the modern Warwick,
South, and Montague streets. The layout of streets
was influenced by the direction of strips in the open
fields which preceded them; those north of Warwick
Street all ran east-west, and those south of Warwick
and Montague streets north-south. (fn. 48) Bedford Row
and Copping's Row, later Marine Place, south of
Warwick Street, were built between 1802 and 1805, (fn. 49)
and by 1804 there was at least one terrace facing the
sea near by. (fn. 50) Ann and Market streets, north of
Warwick Street, were recorded respectively in 1805
and 1811. (fn. 51) Meanwhile the Steyne had been laid
out c. 1811, (fn. 52) twenty-three lodging-houses being
built on its west side. (fn. 53) Some way to the east of the
Steyne, and separated from it by open land,
Warwick Buildings, later the east side of Warwick
Road, were also in existence by 1811, (fn. 54) and Gravel
or Greville Terrace to the south of it apparently
by 1813. (fn. 55)
Development west of South Street, on both sides
of Montague Street, then called Cross Lane, began
at about the same time. Sumner or Summer Lodge,
on the east side of Montague Place, was built
c. 1800 or soon after, (fn. 56) and the west side of Montague Place was built between 1802 and 1805. (fn. 57)
Further west King's Row and Prospect Place were
recorded in 1807, (fn. 58) Prospect Row in 1810, (fn. 59) and
Trafalgar Place, later Augusta Place, in 1811. Bath
Buildings, later Bath Place, was also mentioned in
1811. (fn. 60) North of Montague Street, Chapel Street,
later Portland Road, named after the Independent
chapel at its southern end, was in existence by 1806, (fn. 61)
and four years later contained tradesmen's premises
and second-class lodging-houses. The first shops of
the resort were chiefly in High and Warwick streets,
the latter also containing banks and the post office; (fn. 62)
by c. 1820 there were shops in South and Montague
streets too. (fn. 63) Meanwhile at the north end of the old
hamlet some houses were built at the same time in
what was later the northern part of Chapel Road,
including Worthing House, on the west side of the
road, (fn. 64) which was let in the season to visitors. (fn. 65)
Apart from the area around Warwick Street,
which was quite densely developed by 1812, much
of the early development of the town was small-scale
and scattered because of the fragmented ownership
of land. (fn. 66) Later economic difficulties caused gaps
between buildings and streets to be filled only
slowly, giving a patchwork architectural effect to
that part of the town. (fn. 67)
Worthing nevertheless continued to grow after
1812. (fn. 68) New houses and terraces were built south of
Montague Street; by 1826 the built-up area there
had reached West Buildings, and by 1843 it had
almost arrived at the Heene-Broadwater boundary. (fn. 69)
Some streets in that area, for instance Surrey and
West streets, seem to have been built for lower-class
occupation, and much of the area had become a poor
quarter by c. 1840. (fn. 70) East of the Steyne York
Terrace, later Warne's Hotel, and Warwick Place,
north of Brighton Road, had been built by 1826, and
Alfred Place was built between 1826 and 1843. (fn. 71) A
little further east Beach House was built in 1820,
with grounds stretching down to the sea (fn. 72) which
later formed a barrier to the town's eastward
development. An esplanade along the whole
frontage of the town as it then existed was constructed between 1819 and 1821. (fn. 73)
At the same period the town began to expand to
the north-west, along the ridge on the eastern part
of which the hamlet of Worthing had grown up.
Chapel Road, named after the chapel of ease
opened in 1812, was cut after the inclosure of 1810
to bypass High Street, which it had replaced as the
main entrance to the town by 1817. (fn. 74) Ambrose
Place behind the chapel was built c. 1815, (fn. 75) while on
the other side of Chapel Road Union Place was laid
out by 1826 to link the chapel to High Street. (fn. 76) In
the same area were Worthing's two grandest contemporary building developments. Liverpool Terrace, north of Montague Street, was built between
1826 and 1833, (fn. 77) facing Chapel Road across what
remained open land until c. 1870, being laid out as
pleasure grounds c. 1835. (fn. 78) Park Crescent, also built
between 1826 and 1833, lay detached from the town,
on the crest of the ridge and close to the Heene
boundary. (fn. 79) Behind Park Crescent a terrace of
houses called New Town was built, on the west side
of what was later Clifton Road. (fn. 80) Some detached
houses and a terrace had been built in Richmond
Road by 1843, when there were also detached villas
in Chapel Road near by. (fn. 81) Meanwhile the junction
of Chapel Road with South and Warwick streets
had become the centre of the town when the town
hall was built there in 1835. (fn. 82)
Most of the surviving early-19th-century domestic
architecture of Worthing is plain, with none of the
exuberance of contemporary Brighton. Only a few
traces remain of the original appearance of Warwick,
South, and Montague streets, for instance curved
bay-windows in the two first-named, facades in
yellow brick with classical window heads in Warwick Street, and a building with Ionic pilasters in
Montague Street. Terraces of lodging-houses,
however, survive around those three streets. They
are of three or four storeys, usually stuccoed, but
occasionally displaying cream or yellow brickwork,
as in the Steyne or Bedford Row. Many have
curved bay-windows rising through their full
height, for instance West Buildings, Bedford Row,
Liverpool Terrace, and the west side of Montague
Place, and many have balconies of wood or iron,
often designed individually for each house. Some
houses in Bedford Row have columned porches, but
only two terraces, namely York Terrace, later
Warne's Hotel, and Caledonian Place, in West
Buildings, display pilasters. At Ambrose Place,
Warwick Place, and Bedford Row there are detached
front gardens on the opposite side of the roadway;
those belonging to the houses in Bedford Row were
mostly used for car-parking in 1978. Four-storeyed
lodging-houses formerly also existed in High
Street. (fn. 83)
The Hollies in upper High Street is of three bays
in yellow brick with relieving arches enclosing two
storeys. Beach House, by J. B. Rebecca, (fn. 84) shares the
classical idiom of Liverpool Terrace; the main
portion is of three bays and two storeys, stuccoed,
with a curved central projection in its southern
façade. Other detached stuccoed houses survive in
Union Place and Richmond Road. One of the latter
is of 5 bays, symmetrical, with a three-bay pediment,
another is asymmetrical classical, and a third is a
cottage ornée in the Elizabethan style. In Grafton
Road to the south is another contemporary cottage
ornée. (fn. 85) The grandest piece of architecture of the
period, Park Crescent, combines terraced with
detached housing, a south-facing crescent, serpentine in plan, and with giant pilasters of unusual
design, being complemented by ornamental grounds
containing a pair of cottages ornées, and by a massive
gateway with herms fronting Richmond Road.
Only part of the original scheme was executed, (fn. 86)
the architect being A. H. Wilds of Brighton. (fn. 87)
Smaller contemporary terraces, of two or three
storeys, may be lodging-houses or working-class
dwellings. They are usually stuccoed, but sometimes,
as in Portland Road or Prospect Place, partly faced
with cobbles, and sometimes not to a uniform
design, as in Portland Road or Warwick Place.
Some houses in Alfred Place, Portland Road, and
Warwick Place have projecting enclosed porches
with ogee heads, locally known as 'boat porches'.
Worthing Town Center c.1975
Despite its sanitary problems the town continued
to expand in the mid 19th century; between 1841
and 1871 the number of houses increased from
1,028 to 1,471. (fn. 88) The infilling of new houses and
streets continued along the sea front west of South
Street. East of South Street, on the other hand,
much land remained open; the north part of York
Road and the west side of Warwick Road were not
built until the 1880s or 1890s, (fn. 89) and the east side of
the Steyne was not filled until c. 1900. (fn. 90) After
c. 1860 the area around South Street, the east end of
Montague Street, and the pier, built in 1862,
became the entertainment centre of the town, while
the area north of Warwick Street became more
commercial. Chapel Road was further built up
between the 1840s and 1870s, (fn. 91) and between 1866 (fn. 92)
and 1875 (fn. 93) the open space between it and Liverpool
Terrace was filled by an asymmetrical development
of detached stuccoed villas along curved roads.
The expansion of residential streets continued
westwards on the south-facing slope of the low
ridge marked by Richmond Road. (fn. 94) Crescent Road,
laid out in the 1830s (fn. 95) to link Park Crescent to the
town, was built up with large houses, as was Westbrooke to the east of it, and the area north of Park
Crescent was filled with smaller houses. As before,
the alignment of new streets was influenced by that
of the previous open-field strips. By 1875 building
north of Montague Street had reached the Heene
boundary, being abruptly halted there by the
market-garden land which lay beyond. (fn. 96)
During the next twenty years the west end of the
town was built up northwards as far as the railway,
which had been opened in 1846. The largest area to
be developed at that time was the Gratwicke estate,
around the modern Shelley Road, which was built
up between 1877 and 1884 (fn. 97) with detached and
semi-detached houses, many quite large; most
were stuccoed, in classical style, but some displayed
the red brick and tiles of the more up-to-date
revived vernacular style. North of that estate
Christchurch, Oxford, Cambridge, and Victoria
roads were built in the 1880s, on a less grand scale,
but with similar building materials and a similar
mixture of detached and semi-detached houses;
there is also a red-brick terrace in Christchurch
Road. There had been some building between the
north part of Chapel Road and the railway station
before 1875, for instance along Teville Road, the
beginning of the old road to West Tarring. During
the last quarter of the century a small commercial
area was developed south of the station, (fn. 98) while the
low-lying land further west between Tarring Road
and the Teville stream was laid out between the
1870s and the 1890s as a lower-class area with
small terraced houses. (fn. 99)
Expansion continued westwards after c. 1900,
absorbing the old village centre of Heene and the
resort of West Worthing, which had been added to
the town at its incorporation in 1890. By 1909 the
former east field of Heene was fully built over, and
development was progressing north and west of
Heene church, with widely spaced detached and
semi-detached houses among trees. Many of the
streets in West Worthing laid out up to 40 years
before, however, remained undeveloped or occupied
by market-gardens, (fn. 1) and Grand Avenue marked the
western edge of the built-up area c. 1914. (fn. 2)
East of the town the gas-works had been opened
in 1834 in Lyndhurst Road, and there was some
building near by in 1843. (fn. 3) Some streets of poorer
houses south-east of the railway bridge beside the
Broadwater road had been built by 1875, (fn. 4) and more
followed in the 1880s and 1890s. (fn. 5) The eastern side of
the town, however, was very much more slowly
developed for building than the west. One reason
was its liability to flooding, which was increased
after the breaches in the coast road after 1867. (fn. 6)
Another was the proliferation of industrial uses near
the railway and the gas-works, coupled with the
prevailing westerly wind. In 1875, besides the
water-works, there were two saw-mills and a
whiting and putty works in that area. Only one
area of residential development east of the town was
comparable in character to the grander areas in the
west, the tree-lined Farncombe Road, comprising
large detached stuccoed houses on either side of a
wide and serpentine roadway, which was in existence by 1875. (fn. 7) Other roads laid out before that
date, for instance Chesswood Road and Church
Walk, remained largely unbuilt on, much of the
land along them being used for market-gardens. (fn. 8)
The area round St. George's church, consecrated in
1868, was still not fully built up in 1909, (fn. 9) and the
eastern side of the town remained dominated by
market-gardens, with their glass-houses and windpumps, until after the Second World War. (fn. 10) In 1978
the long-drawn-out process of building development
there could be deduced from the varied character of
the architecture, for instance around St. George's
church or in Chesswood Road, where a few mid19th-century houses were surrounded by many
20th-century ones.
North of the railway line some large houses,
including one of c. 1840, had been built west of
Broadwater Road, and at least one road had been
marked out, by 1859. (fn. 11) By 1896 there were two or
three streets of houses there, but much of the land
between Worthing and Broadwater was occupied by
market-gardens. In 1909, despite further building
between the two places, Broadwater village remained
physically separate from Worthing, though it was
beginning to acquire its own new streets on the
north, among them Southfield and Cissbury roads.
By the same date new streets north of West Worthing
station had linked West Tarring village to West
Worthing, and building was also going on north of
the village. Durrington and Salvington hamlet,
however, were dominated by market-gardens, with
only a few new houses of the poorer kind, (fn. 12) and an
attempt to sell land along the road to Findon for
building in 1907 was not successful. (fn. 13)
The years around 1900 saw many changes in the
appearance of the town centre, as Chapel and
Richmond roads were widened, (fn. 14) and new shops
and commercial buildings began to replace the older
buildings in Montague, Warwick, and South
streets. (fn. 15) Warwick House was demolished in 1896, (fn. 16)
and the grounds, which had been unsuccessfully
offered as building land in the 1880s, (fn. 17) were built
over by 1909. (fn. 18) Some trees at the south end were
retained as a central feature in the widened Brighton
Road renamed The Broadway, where a row of shops
was built in 1901; the trees, however, were cut
down in 1928. (fn. 19)
In the 1920s and 1930s the town expanded faster
than ever before, the number of structurally separate
dwellings occupied in the modern borough area
increasing by c. 4,000 between 1921 and 1931, and
by c. 10,000 between 1931 and 1951, to a total of
21,648. (fn. 20) The corporation exercised its powers to
control development under the Town Planning
Acts of 1919, 1925, and 1932, establishing density
restrictions and zones for shopping and for professional and commercial use. (fn. 21) It also saw to the
planting of trees along many roads. (fn. 22) By 1932
building had spread northwards to engulf Broadwater village, and to link it to West Tarring.
Tarring for its part was linked by building, more
tenuously, to Durrington and Salvington, where
some new houses had been built. (fn. 23) During the 1930s
building continued in those areas, (fn. 24) both of privately
owned houses, and of council houses, for instance
south-east of Broadwater and north of the Durrington-Salvington road; (fn. 25) in 1947, however, the
environs of Durrington and Salvington were still
dominated by market-gardens. (fn. 26)
Two large areas developed at the same period
were the former parks of Offington and Charmandean houses. The south part of Charmandean
park, north of Broadwater, was developed from
1926 (fn. 27) and the north part after 1955. (fn. 28) Part of
Offington park, between Broadwater and Salvington,
was developed after c. 1928 and the rest after 1935. (fn. 29)
The combination of large detached houses in very
varied styles, many trees, and at Charmandean a
south-facing slope, made the areas two of the best
residential districts of the town, (fn. 30) which they
remained in 1978. The largest areas of development,
however, were further afield. West of the town
centre building had passed the old borough
boundary at George V Avenue by 1932, (fn. 31) and most
of the remaining market-gardens in West Worthing
were replaced by houses and flats during the 1930s. (fn. 32)
After the incorporation into the town of the
predominantly rural parish of Goring in 1929 its
southern part began to be rapidly built up on a
large scale. (fn. 33) Most of the land south of the railway
had been laid out with roads by 1938, when much
building was in progress, especially west of George
V Avenue, (fn. 34) and on the Goring Hall estate west of
the church, which became another of the town's
best residential areas, many trees being retained,
notably the ilex avenue between the church and the
hall. (fn. 35) In the north-west of the borough development spread for the first time north of the Chichester
-Brighton road. At High Salvington after 1923, (fn. 36)
despite the protests of preservationists, (fn. 37) a straggling
development including many large detached houses
of various styles spread up to the summit of the
hill, which is over 300 feet high. Many old trees and
banks were retained, especially in Salvington Hill.
To the north-east in Findon Valley, added to the
borough in 1933, development proceeded rapidly
during the 1930s on either side of Findon Road,
with wide streets of detached and semi-detached
houses and bungalows. (fn. 38)
Worthing c.1975
Meanwhile the older suburbs west of the town
centre, and Farncombe Road to the east, remained
wealthy residential areas, though some houses there
were beginning to be turned into hotels, institutions,
or flats. In the centre of the town hotels and
boarding-houses continued to occupy much of the
sea front and the area behind it. Some new shops
and commercial buildings were appearing in South
Street, the shopping centre of the town, (fn. 39) which
was partly widened in 1924, when the Arcade was
built at its southern end. (fn. 40) The southern part of
Chapel Road was occupied by shops and businesses
by 1927, (fn. 41) and at about the same date the detached
houses of the northern part in their leafy gardens
were being replaced by new offices and public
buildings (fn. 42) like the town hall and post office, while
offices also began to invade the area of large 19thcentury houses to the west. (fn. 43) High Street to the
east, by now superseded as the spine of the town,
had taken on the industrial character of the land
around it to the east and north. (fn. 44)
After the Second World War most of the surviving
market-gardens in the south-east part of the town,
west of Broadwater Road, and around West Tarring,
Salvington, and Durrington were replaced piecemeal by streets or closes of houses. At the same time
many large houses in the older suburbs were converted into flats or institutions, or replaced by small
closes or blocks of flats. (fn. 45) The largest remaining
area of building land was in the west part of the
borough, in the former parish of Goring and around
Durrington station, opened in 1937. Between the
1950s and 1970s that land was rapidly developed, (fn. 46)
with a large number of council houses (fn. 47) as well as
privately owned ones; building was still going on in
Durrington in 1978. (fn. 48) In addition much land in that
area was used for schools and recreation grounds,
while near Durrington station several tall office
blocks were built. In 1978, apart from the area
occupied by recreation grounds or the various
trading estates, at Broadwater, East Worthing, West
Worthing, and Goring, most of the land within the
borough was built on. The only large areas not
developed were the downland in the north-west and
north-east used for agriculture or as open space,
especially for golf courses, (fn. 49) and land in the west
between Durrington and Highdown Hill (in
Ferring). Along the coast both the eastern and
western boundaries were marked by a slight hiatus
in the built-up area that extends from Littlehampton to Brighton.
The centre of the town had meanwhile undergone
great changes. The area west of Chapel Road had
come to be dominated by offices and administrative
buildings: some new office buildings had been built
in Liverpool Gardens, and a new library and law
courts in Richmond Road, and many large 19thcentury houses in the same area had been converted
for office use. Most of the older buildings in High
Street were demolished after c. 1950, (fn. 50) and the
construction of the Guildbourne centre between
Chapel Road and Warwick Street in 1974, (fn. 51) comprising shops, flats, offices, and a multi-storey car
park, brought about the destruction of part of the
early-19th-century town, including the Ann Street
theatre, 'a very precious survival'. (fn. 52) The town's
focus, the old town hall, was demolished in 1966. (fn. 53)
Some of the older streets south of Montague Street
had also been destroyed or blighted since the Second
World War, Montague Street being made a
pedestrian shopping precinct during the 1970s. (fn. 54)
Other large multi-storey car parks were built on the
sea front (fn. 55) near by, and near the Broadwater Road
railway bridge. The sea front, however, in accordance with a long-standing policy, remained free
from large-scale commercial development.