Littlehampton
Littlehampton is a town, seaside resort and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the English Channel on the eastern bank of the mouth of the River Arun. It is south south-west of London, west of Brighton and east of Chichester.
The parish covers an area of. The suburban area of the town has a population of approximately 55,000. The conurbation includes other settlements: Wick in the north west; Lyminster to the north; and Rustington to the east. Wick and Toddington, which has a large business park, became part of the town in 1901. Nearby towns include Bognor Regis to the west and Worthing to the east.
The town is also the westernmost settlement of the 15th largest urban area in England and Wales, the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, a region encompassing 474,485 people. The South Downs National Park commences north of the town: Littlehampton links to Amberley and Arundel by footpaths and railway as well as by roads.
History
A human settlement at Littlehampton can be traced back to prehistoric and Roman times, while it appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the hamlet of 'Hantone'. The settlement is believed to have been a fishing community around this time, appearing on a French map in around 1100 as 'Hanton'. The settlement is then believed to have been given to the Abbey of St Martin de Seez in Normandy, who owned Littlehampton until around 1400. The area then passed back to the ownership of successive Earls of Arundel and Dukes of Norfolk, whose successors still reside in Arundel today.Littlehampton began to develop as a port as a result of constant silting of the River Arun, perhaps leading to the prefix of 'Little' being added to 'Hampton', in order to distinguish it from the larger Southampton further along the coast. The expansion of port activities led to a new river mouth being cut in 1735, alongside the building of a wooden harbour. At this time it was also known as Arundel Port.
As the eighteenth century progressed, the town developed from a fishing community to a holiday destination, with Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Constable all believed to have spent time there.
The town's status as both a port and a holiday resort led to economic success in the nineteenth century, with a railway line and a cross-channel ferry to Honfleur in France being introduced. The population of the town grew tenfold over the century, from 584 in 1801 to 5,954 in 1901. Littlehampton remained as a holiday resort in the twentieth century, becoming known as 'The Children's Paradise' in the 1920s.
Post-war Littlehampton saw much house building on the outskirts of the town, eventually absorbing the villages of Wick, Lyminster and Toddington, while the commercial element of the town became increasingly focused on boat building and water sports. In 1967, the town attracted attention by becoming the base for the first Blue Peter lifeboat.
Economy
A local company, Dando Drilling International Ltd, founded in 1867, had been exporting drilling rigs from Littlehampton since 1868. Since June 2024, the company has been in voluntary liquidation. Van Heyningen Brothers salad growers was a major employer in the town from 1964 to 2003.The world headquarters of The Body Shop was previously situated towards the north of the town, and was a major employer in the area.
Governance and politics
Littlehampton lies within the parliamentary constituency of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, the Member of Parliament for which is Conservative Alison Griffiths.At a local government level, Littlehampton is part of Littlehampton Town Council, Arun District council and West Sussex County Council. Littlehampton Town Council consists of 15 councillors elected from six wards: Beach, Brookfield, Courtwick with Toddington, River, Wick and Wickbourne. Following the May 2023 elections, Labour holds 9 seats and the Liberal Democrats 6. Littlehampton has 10 out of 54 seats on Arun District Council, spread across four wards – Beach, Brookfield, Courtwick with Toddington, and River; at the 2023 Arun District Council election, Labour won 6 of these 10 seats and the Lib Dems 4. Littlehampton is represented on West Sussex County Council by two single-member electoral divisions: Littlehampton Town, held by the Liberal Dems, and Littlehampton East, held by the Conservatives.
Education
Littlehampton has one secondary school, The Littlehampton Academy, which opened in 2009, replacing the Littlehampton Community School.For younger children there are five primary schools — Lyminster, River Beach, St. Catherine's, White Meadows and Georgian Gardens. In 2011, following a major reorganisation of primary school provision in the town, six separate junior and infant schools were replaced with four primary schools. River Beach Primary was formed from the merging of Connaught Junior with Arun Vale and Elm Grove Infants schools, whilst the merger of Flora McDonald Junior and Wickbourne Infants schools brought about the creation of White Meadows. Lyminster existed before the reorganisation as an infant school and has now begun a phased expansion to become a primary school, whilst St. Catherine's existed before the reorganistaion as a primary school.
Transport
Littlehampton is on the A259, though this bypasses most of the town. Littlehampton is connected to the A27 south coast trunk road by the A284, which also provides the main north–south route out of the town and links to the A29 and A24. The A27 also later links with the M27. The A280 also links Littlehampton to the A24 and is a main route from the north-east.Littlehampton is served by three railway stations: Littlehampton, Angmering and Ford.
Train services from Littlehampton are provided by Southern with direct services to Brighton, London Victoria, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, Bognor Regis, Chichester, Portsmouth and Southampton.
The Littlehampton Ferry links the east and west banks of the Arun. The ferry operates from 31 March to 30 September between 10am and 5pm, although has been closed in recent years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ferry company also provided harbour tours.
Gatwick Airport is an hour away to the north, Southampton Airport is an hour and a half away to the west, Chichester/Goodwood Airport is 30 minutes also to the west and Shoreham Airport is 45 minutes to the east. The Port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel about three hours to the east; Portsmouth Harbour an hour to the west and the Port of Newhaven about an hour to the east.
Littlehampton has a number of bus routes operated by Compass Travel and Stagecoach South. The bus station at Littlehampton handles anything up to 1,000 passengers a day.
Littlehampton also has a small number of taxis, with taxi ranks all over the town and four different taxi companies.
Littlehampton port
Littlehampton's port is based around the River Arun, which opens onto the English Channel. A small stretch of this, 5 miles out to sea and 6 miles wide, is locally known as the "Littlehampton Channel". Littlehampton started as a fishing port but now is a thriving port for thousands of leisure craft which visit from all over the UK and Europe. In 2009, use of leisure craft at Littlehampton rose to the extent that at least 200 more moorings were required.Littlehampton is also a commercial port, handling around 50–60 ships a year from Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and France with cargo including marine aggregates, stone, marble chippings and timber. From the early 1920s David Hillyard built yachts in Littlehampton, and the company of David Hillyard Ltd continued here until 2009, producing a total of over 850 yachts.
Open spaces
- Mewsbrook Park
- Brookfield Park
- Rosemead Open Space
- East Beach Green
- West Beach Nature Reserve
- Norfolk Gardens
- Middle Mead
- Water Lane Recreation Ground
- St Catherines Recreation Ground
- Southfields Recreation Ground
- Linden Park Recreational Ground
Churches and cemeteries
There are two other Anglican churches: St James the Great on Arundel Road and All Saints in Wick. Littlehampton Baptist Church, Littlehampton United Church, Parkside Evangelical Church, the Arun Community Church, Trinity Church and the Quaker Friends Meeting House also serve the town.
Arts and culture
The Littlehampton bonfire procession, bonfire and firework display is an annual event which has been organised by the Littlehampton Bonfire Society since 1952. It is part of a series of bonfire festivals organised by Sussex Bonfire Societies throughout Sussex.Littlehampton supports a range of performance groups including Stagedoor Theatre Company, The Edwin James Festival Choir & Orchestra, The Musical Comedy Society and Players Operatic Society who perform throughout the year. It also holds a popular 'Last Night of the Proms' concert performed annually by the Littlehampton Concert Band.
On-screen Littlehampton
- Character actor Stanley Holloway died in The Nightingale Nursing Home, Littlehampton, in 1982 aged 91.
- Littlehampton was the backdrop for Swanage for the first episode of series 2 of the comedy drama series, The Inbetweeners, with filming taking place on the promenade and River Arun. Also the fifth episode of series 2, when Simon goes to see his dad, was filmed at the Travelodge by the Body Shop.
- Littlehampton is used as the town centre for the 'Moving On' episode of the BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles
- Littlehampton appears in an episode of The Hungry Sailors on ITV.
- Odd Man Out, a comedy TV series from 1977 starring John Inman, was based in Littlehampton. It was about a man who leaves the safety of his Blackpool fish and chip shop to take over his deceased father's seaside rock factory in Littlehampton with his step-sister Dorothy. The programme ran for one series.
- Wicked Little Letters is set in 1920s Littlehampton, based on a true story about the Littlehampton libels.
- Carry On Jack, a 1964 British comedy film, makes reference to Littlehampton several times.