Storrington is a small

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

in the

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

District 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 a ...

, England, and one of two in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

Storrington and Sullington Storrington and Sullington is the name of a civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. The two villages are near the A24 road south of Horsham. The civil parish has a land area of . In the 2001 census 6074 people lived in 277 ...

. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the ea ...

. it has a population of around 4,600. It has one main shopping street (High Street). The

A283 road A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''ae ...

runs directly through the village and connects Storrington to Steyning in the east and

Pulborough Pulborough is a large village and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England, with some 5,000 inhabitants. It is located almost centrally within West Sussex and is south west of London. It is at the junction of the north–south ...

in the west.

History

Storrington is listed in the ''

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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' as "Estorchestone", meaning a place well known for

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons a ...

s. A charter to hold a regular market on Wednesdays was granted by Henry IV in 1400, together with permissions for three fairs during the year, on Mayday, Wednesday of Whit week and the Feast of Martin on 11November.

Tanning Tanning may refer to: * Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather * Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin ** Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun ** Sunless tanning, application of a stain or d ...

and

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

ing were also important industries and only in the 20th century did these roles fade away. Rabbit breeding was another significant industry reflected in a number of local place names including 'The Warren', 'Warren Hill', 'Sullington Warren' and 'Warren Croft'. This working/small industry background has however, left little behind architecturally.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

, noted only the small door in Browns Lane, the church, and the Dominican

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

known as the

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

to be historically significant.

Community

Since 1945 Storrington has expanded with a variety of housing projects which enlarged the village. It is possible to be in open countryside in a few minutes from the town centre when walking towards the downs or one of the commons. Storrington's main supermarket is

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

. There are a variety of shops including delicatessens, charity shops, butchers, clothes shops, coffee shops, hardware stores, estate agencies, two banks, restaurants, a museum and a post office and three

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s: The Moon, the Anchor Inn and the White Horse Inn. The nearest large town is

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 H ...

, approximately to the south, followed by

, approximately to the north. Mainline train services are from

or Amberley. Trains to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

take an hour and a quarter and terminate at Victoria. Trains to

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...

take about 25 minutes. From the village centre there is walking access to the trail, the

South Downs Way The South Downs Way is a long distance footpath and bridleway running along the South Downs in southern England. It is one of 16 National Trails in England and Wales. The trail runs for from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Su ...

. From Chantry Hill or Kithurst Hill there are views across 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 Kan ...

to the south and opposite, to the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills ...

. On a clear day you can see the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. Kithurst Hill which rises steeply above the village is marked at the summit by a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they ...

, above sea level.

Sport and leisure

Sport and leisure facilities include a recreation ground with football and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

pitches and a

leisure centre A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where peopl ...

. Storrington has a

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

club Storrington F.C., who play at the recreation ground. Storrington is thinly disguised as the home of the home team in Hugh de Sélincourt's 1924 novel ''The Cricket Match'', complete with chestnut trees and duck pond. In later editions a cartoon map of the village is used as end pages. John Parker wrote what was effectively a sequel in ''The Village Cricket Match'' in 1977.

Landmarks

St Joseph's Hall St Joseph's Hall in Greyfriars Lane, Storrington, West Sussex is a Grade II listed former residence of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. It was built as a private house for US businessman George Trotter in 1910, and then sold to a French reli ...

in Greyfriars Lane is a Grade II listed former residence of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton. It was built as a private house for US businessman George Trotter in 1910, and then sold to a French

religious order A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious pract ...

, the

Norbertines The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

. In 1956 it was used by Vincent and Nona Byrne as a home for refugees from the Hungarian uprising. Parham Park, towards Pulborough, is a country house with rolling parkland with a large herd of maintained deer. It is open most weekends to visitors. There is also the private Edwin Lutyens built Little Thakeham nearby. Places of worship include St Mary's on Church Street, which is the main

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

place of worship, and the Priory of Our Lady of England on Monastery Lane, which is the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

parish church of Storrington. The Roman Catholic bishops of

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much lar ...

lived nearby for a while. Other Christian denominations have places as well, including the Methodists and

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved ...

Twinning

Storrington is twinned with the commune of

Villerest Villerest (; frp, Vilarês) is a commune in the Loire department in central France. It is a Medieval-era commune located just south of the city of Roanne. The village is bordered by the river Loire. Population Sights *Le Barrage de Villerest ...

in the

Loire The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...

department of central France.

References

External links

*
Storrington MuseumCommunity websiteHorsham District Council
{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Market towns in West Sussex Horsham District