Timeline of Worthing

The following is a timeline of the history of the borough of Worthing, West Sussex, England.

13th century

1218 - By 1218 the manor of Ordinges had become known as Wurddingg.
c.1245 - St Richard of Chichester, Sussex's patron saint, lives in Tarring at the house of Simon, parish priest of Tarring
1291 - Worthing's medieval chapel is mentioned for the first time

14th century

1300 - Worthing harbour first recorded
1324 - Worthing harbour is recorded as being a member of Shoreham Port

15th century

1410 - Worthing's medieval chapel is recorded as being used for mass

16th century

1539 - Worthing becomes the property of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu
1575 - Worthing chapel is recorded as being in private ownership
1584 - John Selden, jurist, legal antiquary and oriental scholar was born in Salvington

17th century

1643 - St Symphorian's Church, Durrington is partly destroyed by Parliamentarian parishioners
1644 - The Spanish warship the Santiago, is beached at Heene.
1682 - William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania sails across the Atlantic for the first time. His ship, the Welcome lands at Worthing to pick up at least 16 people from Sussex as it sails from the Kent port of Deal to New Castle, Delaware
1684 - William Penn lands in Worthing on his way from the Province of Pennsylvania to his home in Warminghurst

18th century

1750 - High Salvington Windmill is built
1759 - John Luther builds a large lodging house at the south end of High Street
1773 - There is said to be a 'great fishery' at Worthing
1789 - George Greville, 4th Earl of Warwick buys Luther's house, renaming it Warwick House
1797 - Castle Goring is built
1798 - Princess Amelia visits Worthing

19th century

1801 - Population: 2,151
1802
* A new toll road is constructed from Worthing to West Grinstead. Teville Gate tollgate is built where the new road crosses the Teville Stream
* Thomas Trotter opens a barn theatre in High Street
1803
* Worthing is given town status and Timothy Shelley chairs the first meeting of the Worthing Town Commissioners at the Nelson Inn on South Street
* Worthing's population approximately 2,500
1805 - Jane Austen visits Worthing
1807
* Princess Charlotte visits Worthing
* New Theatre opens on Ann Street
1810 - Charles and William Phillips publish Percy Bysshe Shelley's first published volume of poetry, Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire
1811 - Charles and William Phillips publish Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Necessity of Atheism
1812 - St Paul's chapel of ease opens
1814
* Thomas Young makes "a number of original and insightful innovations" in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone
* Queen Caroline visits Worthing on her way to Brunswick
1815 - Two infants' schools open
1817 - Jane Austen begins work on Sanditon, the unfinished novel based significantly on her time in Worthing
1820 - Beach House is built
1823
* The Teville Gate tollgate is removed following protests
* A large oyster bed is discovered 3–4 miles south-south-west of Worthing and is fished by Worthing and Brighton fishermen
1829 - Princess Augusta visits Worthing
1830 - Protesters in Broadwater demand a tithe reduction and a crowd of 200 people gather in Worthing town centre in Swing protests
1832 - Excise officers open fire on Worthing's last smuggling gang, shooting William Cowerson dead
1833 - Park Crescent is completed to designs by Amon Henry Wilds
1834 - Christ Church is opened
1835 - Worthing's first Town Hall opens
1838 - The Worthing Institution or Mechanics Institution is founded on Marine Parade to provide cheap information about literature, science and art
1845 - Railway is extended from Shoreham to Worthing
1849 - First recorded Worthing Regatta
1850 - 11 local fishermen drown as they set out to save the crew of the Lalla Rookh
1855 - Worthing Cricket Club is formed
1856 - Worthing Intelligencer newspaper first published
1861
* Queen Marie Amelie of France stays in Worthing when in exile from France
* The Sussex Coast Mercury newspaper is first published
1862
* Worthing Pier opens
* C.A. Elliott uses glass from the Great Exhibition of 1851 for glass-houses to grow grapes for sale
1863 - Worthing Express newspaper, a local version of the Sussex Express is first published
1864 - St Mary of the Angels, Worthing opens as Worthing's first post-reformation Catholic church
1867 - Augustus Lane-Fox excavates part of Cissbury Ring
1881 - Worthing Hospital is opened as Worthing Infirmary
1884 - Skeleton Army riots
1886
* The church of St Andrew the Apostle with the 'Worthing madonna' opens to some controversy
* Worthing F.C. is formed
1890
* Worthing receives a royal charter and becomes a borough
* Alfred Cortis is elected as Worthing's first mayor
* The Worthing School of Art and Science is founded
1892 - A permanent soup kitchen and distribution centre for coal, soup and bread is established in Grafton Road
1893 - An outbreak of typhoid fever causes 200 fatalities
1894 - Oscar Wilde stays at Worthing and writes The Importance of Being Earnest
1896 - The first moving picture show in Worthing is shown at Worthing Pier
1898 - William Kennedy Dickson makes a film of a water polo game involving Worthing Swimming Club, one of the earliest films of a sports team
1899 - Worthing is described as "a town of hot houses" with so many hot houses established for market gardening

20th century

1902 - The borough of Worthing is extended to include parts of Broadwater and West Tarring
1908
* Worthing Museum and Art Gallery opens
* King Edward VII stays at Beach House for the first time
* Worthing's first fire station is built on High Street
1909 - Sir Frederick Stern purchases a site on Highdown Hill that becomes Highdown Gardens
1910 - Ellen Chapman is elected to Worthing Council, one of the first female councillors in the UK
1911 - Carl Adolf Seebold opens the Dome Cinema as the Kursaal
1914 - The Connaught Theatre opens, initially as the Picturedrome cinema
1920 - Worthing Herald newspaper first published
1924 - The first Worthing Tramocars service runs along the town's seafront
1926 - The Worthing Symphony Orchestra is founded
1929
* The borough of Worthing is extended to include Goring-by-Sea and Durrington
* Vaughan Cornish and the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister urging the case for national parks including on the South Downs between the rivers Arun and Adur
1930 - Charles Bentinck Budd is elected to the town council
1931 - Population: 45,905
1933
* The borough of Worthing is extended to include the west of Sompting and the south of Findon
* Worthing Rural District is created as the local authority for places surrounding Worthing
* Worthing Corporation begins the purchase of 1000 acres of open downland as part of the Worthing Downland Estate
* Worthing's New Town Hall opens
1934 - The Battle of South Street takes place between Fascists and anti-fascists
1936
* Emperor Haile Selassie and his family spend six weeks in Worthing following Italy's invasion of Abyssinia
* Brighton, Hove and Worthing Municipal Airport is officially opened
1939 - Population: 55,584
1942 - Canadian soldiers based in Worthing take part in the Dieppe Raid
1944 - The British Army's 4th Armoured Brigade set up headquarters in the Eardley Hotel
1945 - Sir Otho Prior-Palmer becomes Worthing's first Member of Parliament
1948 - Post-war housing planned by Charles Cowles-Voysey is built using Prisoner of War labour
1951 - Population: 67,305
1960 - Beecham factory opens in Broadwater
1961 - Population: 77,155
1964
* Sir Terence Higgins becomes the second person to represent Worthing as its Member of Parliament
* Harold Pinter writes The Homecoming at his home in Ambrose Place
1966
* Worthing's Old Town Hall is demolished
* Sussex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is designated
1969
* Worthing hosts the opening stage of cycling's Milk Race
* Hill Barn Golf Club hosts the Penfold Tournament, part of the European Tour, for the first time
1970 - Phun City music festival is held in fields outside of Worthing
1971 - Population: 88,467
1972 - Worthing hosts its first World Bowls Championship
1974
* Worthing Council is reformatted as Worthing Borough Council
* Worthing College formed as Worthing Sixth Form College
1976 - Worthing Borough Council is led by the Conservative Party for the first time
1981
* Population: 90,686
* The West Worthing Tennis Club hosts the 1981 ATP Challenger Series tennis tournament
1987 - Gary Bevans begins work creating a replica of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome at English Martyrs' Catholic Church, Goring-by-Sea
1988 - Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett create the character Tank Girl while at college in Worthing
1990 - Sterns Nightclub opens
1991 - Population: 98,066
1992 - Turning Tides homeless charity formed
1993 - Worthing Bears win the British Basketball League
1994
* Worthing Borough Council is led by the Liberal Democrats for the first time
* Premises on Ivy Arch Road are purchased and developed into Worthing's first mosque, the Masjid Assalam
1997 - Two new constituencies are created - East Worthing and Shoreham and Worthing West
1999
* Control of Worthing Borough Council returns to the Conservative Party
* Worthing Thunder Basketball Club is formed, initially as the Worthing Rebels

21st century

2001 - Population: 97,540
2002 - Control of Worthing Borough Council returns to the Liberal Democrats
2004 - Control of Worthing Borough Council returns to the Conservative Party
2008 - First Worthing International Birdman event is held
2010
* The South Downs National Park is formed, to include parts of Worthing
* The Sussex International Piano Competition is founded in Worthing
2011 - Population: 104,640
2013
* Kingmere Marine Conservation Zone is created off of the coast of Worthing
* Splashpoint Leisure Centre opens
2014 - Worthing becomes a founding partner of the Greater Brighton City Region
2018
* The first Worthing Pride event takes place
* Rampion Wind Farm becomes operational off the coast of Worthing
2019
* Bayside Vista becomes Worthing's tallest building at
* Worthing Borough Council declares a climate emergency, which aims to see the council carbon-neutral by 2030.
2022 - Worthing Borough Council is led by the Labour Party for the first time