Town in West Sussex, England

Worthing

Oscar Wilde borrowed this seaside town's name for the hero of The Importance of Being Earnest, and Jack Worthing has carried it ever since.

Key information

County: West Sussex
Nation: England
Population: about 111,000 (2021 Census)
Known for: Its 1862 pier, Oscar Wilde's Earnest, a sunny south-coast seafront and the Dome cinema
What locals are called: Worthingites
Famous people: Oscar Wilde, Jane Austen, Princess Amelia
Football clubs: Worthing FC (The Rebels)

About Worthing

The town that gave Earnest his surname

In the summer of 1894 Oscar Wilde rented a house on Worthing's seafront and set about writing The Importance of Being Earnest. His family came with him, and he worked on the play while the sea air did its job. The play's hero, who invents a wicked brother so he can escape to town, goes by the name Jack Worthing. Wilde had a seaside town in mind, and the name stuck to one of the most quoted comedies in English. Worthing has never been shy about the connection. Streets, plaques and the odd pub quiz question keep it alive. It is one of the better answers to the question of which town sits inside a famous play.

From mackerel village to royal bathing spot

Worthing began as a modest fishing village, with boats hauled up the shingle and catches sold on the beach. Its fortunes changed in 1798, when Princess Amelia, a daughter of George III, came to try the sea-bathing cure for her health. A royal visitor was all the publicity a resort needed. Fashionable families followed, and the village grew a grid of elegant terraces and a seafront promenade. Jane Austen stayed in 1805, and readers still like to link the town with the seaside setting of her unfinished novel Sanditon. The railway arrived in 1845 and brought day-trippers, and later retirees, in large numbers. Worthing became the calmer, more genteel neighbour of Brighton, and it has kept that reputation.

A pier that keeps winning prizes

Worthing Pier opened in 1862. Its Art Deco Southern Pavilion, which opened in 1935 after fire destroyed the earlier pavilion in 1933, is the part people photograph most, with its clean lines and sea-view windows. The pier was named Pier of the Year in 2019 by the National Piers Society. That is a serious accolade in a country that still has plenty of piers. A short walk along the front brings you to the Dome, a cinema that opened in 1911 and is still showing films more than a century later. Between them, the pier and the Dome give the seafront its Edwardian and Art Deco character.

The Stone Age mines on the hill

Look north from the beach and the South Downs rise behind the town. On them sits Cissbury Ring, an Iron Age hillfort with some of the largest ramparts in Sussex. The surprise is under the grass. About 5,000 years ago, Stone Age miners dug shafts into the chalk here to reach flint, which they made into tools. Cissbury is among the oldest industrial sites in Britain. Closer to town, Highdown Gardens grow chalk-loving plants in what used to be a chalk pit. The hill above is where an Anglo-Saxon cemetery was found. Worthing's past runs a long way back beyond the Georgians.

Glasshouses, bowls and The Rebels

Before the housing estates spread, the flat, sunny coastal plain around Worthing was dotted with glasshouses. Tomatoes and other crops were grown under glass and sent to market, which gave the town a second economy beyond tourism. Sport here has a gentle but dedicated side. Beach House Park, with its bowling greens beside the sea, is a name known to bowlers across England and has staged national championships. Football belongs to Worthing FC, nicknamed The Rebels, who play at Woodside Road. They are a proper local club, supported by people who know the players' names and where to stand.

Sea, shingle and a slower pace

Worthing is one of the sunnier spots on the English coast, and the long shingle beach is the focus of town life. Fishing boats still work from the shore, and fresh fish and chips taste better with the sea in view. The town has a reputation as a place where people retire, and it is true that many arrive for the calm. The Connaught Theatre, the Pavilion Theatre and the Assembly Hall keep the cultural calendar busy, though, and younger residents have been moving in as well. The locals, Worthingites, tend to see the town as Brighton without the crowds. They're happy to keep it that way.