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Worthing (c-eniconˈwɜrðɪŋ ) is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, 10 mi (16.1 km) west of Brighton, and 18 mi (29 km) east of the county town of Chichester. The borough covers an area of 12.5 sqmi (32.4 km2) and has an estimated population of 103,200. The area around Worthing has been populated for at least 6,000 years and contains Britain's greatest concentration of Stone Age flint mines, which are some of the earliest mines in Europe. Lying within the borough, the Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring is one of Britain's largest. Worthing means "(place of) Worth/Worō's people", from the Old English personal name Worth/Worō (the name means "valiant one, one who is noble"), and -ingas "people of" (reduced to -ing in the modern name). For many centuries Worthing was a small mackerel fishing hamlet until in the late 18th century it developed into an elegant Georgian seaside resort and attracted the well-known and wealthy of the day. In the 19th and 20th centuries the area was one of Britain's chief market gardening centres. Modern Worthing has a large service industry, particularly in financial services. It has three theatres and one of Britain's oldest cinemas. Writers Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter lived and worked in the town. |
