Sompting is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the coastal Adur District of

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

, England between Lancing and

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

. It is half grassland slopes and half developed plain at the foot of the

South Downs National Park The South Downs National Park is England's newest national parks of England and Wales, national park, designated on 31 March 2010. The park, covering an area of in southern England, stretches for from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in t ...

. Twentieth-century estates dovetail into those of slightly larger Lancing.

Etymology

The village's name comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''*sumpt'' + ''-ingas'', meaning "(settlement of) the dwellers at the marsh". Its earliest recorded form is ''Suntinga'', in a document of 956, but

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

(1086) renders the name as ''Sultinges'', its Norman-speaking clerks being unfamiliar with the consonant-cluster ''-mpt''. As the toponymist

Adrian Room Adrian Richard West Room (27 September 1933, Melksham – 6 November 2010, Stamford, Lincolnshire, Stamford, Lincolnshire)''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2002; accessed 20 May 2013. was a British toponymist and onomastician, a Fellow of the ...

noted, there is no obviously marshy land there nowadays, but it is low-lying and near the sea.

Landmarks and major buildings

The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin is a Grade I-listed

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and Norman church, separated from the centre of the village since 1939 by the busy

A27 road The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 road, A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury, England, Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire, follows the south coast of Hampshire and West Sussex, and terminates at Pevense ...

. Its tower is topped with a " Rhenish helm"—a four-sided gabled pyramidal cap which is unique in England. The church was originally built by the

Saxons The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

c.960 AD, then was adapted by the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...

when William de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber granted it to the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

in the 12th century. The church later passed to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

in the 15th century. The Sompting Abbotts building, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick and completed in 1856, is a preparatory school. However this has been the site of one of Sompting's manor houses since Norman times, when it was owned by the abbot of Fécamp in Normandy, and later owned by the abbot of

Syon Abbey Syon Abbey , also called simply Syon, was a dual monastery of men and women of the Bridgettines, Bridgettine Order, although it only ever had abbesses during its existence. It was founded in 1415 and stood, until its demolition in the 16th cent ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. In 1248 the abbot of Fécamp had a prison in the village. Queen Caroline, consort of King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

stayed at Sompting Abbotts in 1814 on her way across the English Channel to the Continent. The old Sompting

Rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

building, now used as a nursing home, dates from 1791. However, the Rectory has a long history, having previously been owned by the Knights Templar from 1154 and, like Sompting Church, passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as Prisoner of war, prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, inte ...

was built on the Rectory Farm estate, on the west side of Busticle Lane. Sompting's Parish Hall was originally built as a reading room in 1889 by HP Crofts of Sompting Abbotts manor: his Crofts/Tristram family have owned farmland and built property in the parish, known as the Sompting Estate, since 1748. As well as the church mentioned alternative Christian worship at the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

mission chapel, registered in 1887 formerly took place. Sompting Community Centre was originally built in 1872 as a junior and infants school. It was known as a place of innovative education due to the work of the headmistress Harriet Finlay-Johnson who used drama as the focus of the village children's education.The Dramatic Method of Teaching
, The Spectator, 1911, Retrieved 30 January 2016 A house which belonged to Edward Trelawny, adventurer, author and friend of

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...

, is also in the village. The parish of Sompting includes the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Beggars Bush on the Downs as well as the former hamlets of Upper Cokeham and Lower Cokeham, which are now part of the Sompting-Lancing

conurbation A conurbation is a region consisting of a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ...

. Cokeham means Cocca's homestead (ham). Sompting also historically extended west to the ancient droveway today known as Charmandean Lane, but in 1933 this land was given to the neighbouring

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

of Worthing. Sompting's eastern border with Lancing has historically been defined by the Boundstone Lane, so called because of the boundary stone or boundstone that lay on the boundary. The stone is now kept in Boundstone Nursery. On the northern edge a settlement existed at Park Brow on the Downs' crest in the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

through the

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

until Roman times. It lasted until its buildings were burned down c.270 AD, possibly by

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

or Frankish pirates. It is supposed that the inhabitants moved from here to the relative safety of the

hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

Cissbury Ring Cissbury Ring is an biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Worthing in West Sussex. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated a Scheduled monument for its Neolithic flint mine and Iron Age hillfort. Cissbury Ring is ...

Geography

The highest point in the civil parish is Steep Down at above

Ordnance Datum An ordnance datum (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 above ordnance datum (AOD). Usually mean sea level (MSL) at a particular place is used for the d ...

(sea level). In the western part of the parish of Sompting lies the Sompting Gap, a protected area that lies between Sompting and Worthing. This area was formerly an inlet of the sea and it is here that the Broadwater Brook (also known as Sompting Brook) flows into Brooklands Park and on into the sea. Some of the reedbeds in the Sompting Gap at Lower Cokeham have been designated a Site of Nature Conservation Importance. Sompting is about north-east of the centre of Worthing. The nearest railway station is Lancing.

In literature

The writer Alfred Longley lived in Sompting, creator of the character 'Jimmy Smuggles' and his Sompting Treacle Mines,Notes on Alfred Longley
/ref> where "incredibly lazy people worked".

Annual events

Sompting is also known for its

mummers play Mummers' plays are folk plays performed by troupes of amateur actors, traditionally all male, known as mummers or guisers (also by local names such as ''rhymers'', ''pace-eggers'', ''soulers'', ''tipteerers'', ''wrenboys'', and ''galoshins''). ...

, performed by the Sompting Village Morris dancers. In 2005, a small group got together and started the Sompting Festival, which was held for the first time over the weekend 2–4 June 2006, as one of the launch events for the Adur festival. Since then this has developed into the annual Sompting Beer & Music Festival held on Sompting Recreation Ground, West Street, Sompting. It incorporates the Sompting Village Hall Open Weekend, and the Somptin' Old exhibition – a fascinating history of Sompting in pictures set up by former Sompting Parish Councillor Mike Prince, which attracts interest from all over the world.

References

External links

Sompting Parish Council

Sompting Estate

Adur & Worthing Council
{{authority control Civil parishes in West Sussex Villages in West Sussex Adur District Populated coastal places in West Sussex