Rustington is a small town and
civil parish in the
Arun District
Arun is a local government district in West Sussex, England. It contains the towns of Arundel, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, and takes its name from the River Arun, which runs through the centre of the district."Arun" in '' The New Encyclop ...
of
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
. Rustington is approximately at the midpoint of the West Sussex coast and midway between the county town of
Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only c ...
and
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
. The
A259
The A259 is a road on the south coast of England passing through Hampshire, West Sussex, East Sussex and Kent, and is the longest Zone 2 A road in Great Britain. The main part of the road connects Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, Rye and Folkes ...
runs along the north of Rustington, westward to Littlehampton,
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis (), sometimes simply known as Bognor (), is a town and seaside resort in West Sussex on the south coast of England, south-west of London, west of Brighton, south-east of Chichester and east of Portsmouth. Other nearby towns i ...
and Chichester, and east to
Worthing
Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...
and Brighton. The area forms part of the
Brighton and Hove built-up area
The Brighton and Hove Built-up area or Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation has a population of 474,485 (2011 census), making it England's 12th largest conurbation. This was an increase of around 3% from the 2001 population of 461,181. N ...
.
With a population of over 14,000 in 2014, it has the size and facilities of a small town, including a shopping area with a mix of independent and
chain store
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
s. The parish of Rustington includes the
neighbourhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area ...
of West Preston.
History
Rustington was in
World War I home to a planned American aerodrome, to the east of the High Street. Intended to launch bombing raids against Germany, the airfield was incomplete when the war ende
Conservation area and information centre
Rustington contains a conservation area which extends from the south end of North Lane to ''The Lamb'' in The Street. Here, where trees are protected, are the largest number of pre-1850
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
s in the
post town
A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...
, with The Street and surrounding roads containing some of the finest 17th and 18th century Sussex flint cottages in West Sussex, some of which are
thatched
Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
.
There is a village information centre at the Broadmark Lane car park, housed in the recently renovated WRVS building in the Waitrose car park. It also houses Rustington Museum, exploring the village's history from the Stone Age to the modern day with artefacts from throughout time.
Annual events
Rustington competes annually in the South-East in Bloom competition. It holds an annual
carnival and fête in August. Close to Christmas Eve, Rustington has a village carol concert which is free for local residents and features local school children accompanied by the Littlehampton Concert Band.
Geography
Rustington adjoins the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, and is up to above
Ordnance Datum
In the British Isles, an ordnance datum or OD is a vertical datum used by an ordnance survey as the basis for deriving altitudes on maps. A spot height may be expressed as AOD for "above ordnance datum". Usually mean sea level (MSL) is used f ...
. It has three main recreation grounds and neither woodland nor fields.
In music, literature and the media
"Rustington" is a well-known hymn tune by
Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 18 ...
, who lived and died in Rustington.
Rustington achieved national fame in 1956 with the launch of
Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a sc ...
's show ''
At the Drop of a Hat
''At the Drop of a Hat'' is a musical revue by Flanders and Swann, described by them as "an after-dinner farrago". In the show, they both sang on a nearly bare stage, accompanied by Swann on the piano. The songs were linked by contemporary socia ...
'', in which "
The Gnu Song" contains the lines:
Shopping facilities
Rustington has independent shops such as butchers, greengrocers and bakers. It has some major banks and a post office serving a population of 40,000. Pedestrianised areas benefit the Churchill Court Shopping Courtyard. On display in the high street is a large Late
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
erratic boulder; this was brought to Rustington on ice during the last Ice Age. It was re-discovered in a local field named Stonefield having been used as a boundary marker for many years. Rustington also has a retail park on the A259 road.
Sport and leisure
Rustington has an amateur football club
Rustington F.C. who play at the Recreation Ground. Also a cricket club based on the same ground and play throughout the summer with two teams on Saturdays and one on Sundays. In 2006, they didn't lose a single match, earning them a mention on
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast.
History
Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...
on New Year's Eve. In 2017 the club celebrated its 125 Anniversary. The Saturday teams play in the West Sussex Invitation League and in 2016 the first eleven won the Division 4 title.
There is also a thriving table tennis club , Woodlands TTC who are based at The Woodlands Centre who meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Transport
Rustington shares
Angmering railway station
Angmering is a railway station on the West Coastway Line, on the border of Angmering and East Preston in the district of Arun. It was opened in 1846. The station itself is situated about away from the centre of Angmering village, and is down ...
with Angmering and East Preston. Trains from this station go to Brighton and Portsmouth/Southampton, as well as regular services to London.
Bus services to Brighton and Portsmouth are provided by the
Coastliner 700 with many stops within the village itself.
In the news
Hot cross bun
*Paul Pegrum, of Pegrum's bakery (now Forfar's), created the world's biggest
hot cross bun
A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun usually made with fruit, marked with a cross on the top, and has been traditionally eaten on Good Friday in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, India, Pakistan an ...
to publicise Rustington at Easter 2002. After four hours of cooking, the bun surpassed two out of the three existing records. A weights and measures inspector from
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and Hove Council found the bun had smashed the current weight record of , weighing in at . It is also the widest, with a diameter of .
Air speed records
Two world air speed records were set over Rustington sea front.
#Set on 7 September 1946, by Group Captain Teddy Donaldson, flying a
Gloster Meteor Star. Donaldson also became the first man to exceed .
#Set on 7 September 1953, by Squadron Leader Neville Duke, flying
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...
WB188, at a speed of .
To celebrate, on 7 September 1996, Neville Duke returned to Rustington to unveil a plaque, marking the event, joined by a Gloster Meteor and a Hawker Hunter, which flew over the sea front.
Twin towns
*
Los Altos,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
*
Künzell,
Germany
Notable people
*
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson (17 April 1923 – 30 August 1994) was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for ...
, Indian-born English feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the
Free Cinema
Free Cinema was a documentary film movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. The term referred to an absence of propagandised intent or deliberate box office appeal. Co-founded by Lindsay Anderson (but he later disdained the ' ...
movement and the
British New Wave
The British New Wave is a style of films released in Great Britain between 1959 and 1963. The label is a translation of ''Nouvelle Vague'', the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard among others.
Stylis ...
. He wrote ''
If....'' while living in his mother's house on the village's Sea Estate.
*
J M Barrie, Scottish author and dramatist; a friend of the Llewellyn Davies family who had a house in Rustington and were the inspiration of his book ''
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythic ...
''.
*
Delirious?
Delirious? (formerly known as The Cutting Edge Band) were an English contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian band. For the majority of their career, the lineup featured Martin Smith (English musician), Martin Smith on vocals and gu ...
, English Christian rock and worship band members lived in the village.
*
Huw Edwards-Jones, cabinetmaker and five-time
Guild Mark
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
recipient, was born in Rustington.
*
Agnes Garrett
Agnes Garrett (12 July 1845 – 1935)Serena Kelly"Garrett, Agnes (1845–1935)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 9 January 2015. was an English suffragist and interior designer and the founder i ...
(who, with her cousin
Rhoda Garrett opened the first interior design company in Britain to be run by women) had a house in Rustington. Agnes's sister
Millicent Garrett Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett (née Garrett; 11 June 1847 – 5 August 1929) was an English politician, writer and feminist. She campaigned for women's suffrage by legal change and in 1897–1919 led Britain's largest women's rights associati ...
(suffragist leader) also lived there after she was widowed. Another sister,
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (9 June 1836 – 17 December 1917) was an English physician and suffragist. She was the first woman to qualify in Britain as a physician and surgeon. She was the co-founder of the first hospital staffed by women, ...
(first woman to qualify as a doctor), also visited.
*
Nigel Hitchcock
Nigel Hitchcock (born 4 January 1971) is an English jazz saxophonist.
Biography
Hitchcock began to play alto sax at the age of eight. In 1982 he and his elder brother Clive joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After one year Nigel took the ...
, saxophonist
*
Stanley Holloway
Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in '' My F ...
, English actor, comedian, singer and monologist who lived next to the sea at East Preston.
*
Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, landscape architect, garden designer, architect and author, raised in Rustington.
*
Sir Hubert Parry
Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet (27 February 18487 October 1918) was an English composer, teacher and historian of music. Born in Richmond Hill in Bournemouth, Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is be ...
, composer of hymn melodies, some becoming templates, including '"Rustington". He lived in Sea Lane (from 1880-d.1918).
*
Andrew Pearson, cricketer who played for
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council was ...
.
*
Ed Petrie
Edward Oliver James "Ed" Petrie (born 22 August 1978) is an English actor, comedian, and television presenter.
Early life
Petrie was born and raised in Rustington, West Sussex. He was educated at Broadwater Manor in Worthing, West Sussex, and ...
, British comedian, actor and television presenter. He was born and raised in the village.
*
George Posford
George Posford, born Benjamin George Ashwell (23 March 1906 – 24 April 1976), was an English composer and conductor.
Early life
Benjamin George Ashwell was born in 1906 in Folkestone, Kent. He was educated at Downside School in Somerset an ...
, English composer, most notably famed for "Good Night Vienna"
*
Graham Sutherland
Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...
, English artist
*
Mitchell Symons, journalist and bestselling author. He has lived just outside the village since 1995.
*
Ben Thatcher
Benjamin David Thatcher (born 30 November 1975) is a former professional footballer who played as a left-back.
He played for a number of English clubs, and has featured in more than 300 English league games, all of which were in the top two ...
, drummer of the popular British rock duo
Royal Blood
A royal descent is a genealogical line of descent from a past or present monarch.
Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic perspective, the number of unpr ...
.
*
Brian White, cartoonist. He spent much of his later life in the village.
*
Leslie Arthur Wilcox R.I., R.S.M.A., marine artist. He lived in Cove Road from 1963 to 1982.
References
External links
Rustington Village Website - History
{{Authority control
Arun District
Populated coastal places in West Sussex
Towns in West Sussex
Beaches of West Sussex