Storrington is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex
, England
, and one of
two in the civil parish of Storrington and
Sullington
. Storrington lies at the foot of the north
side of the South
Downs
. As of 2006 the village has a population of
around 4,500. It has one main shopping street (The High Street).
The
A283
road runs directly through the middle and connects Storrington
to Steyning
in the east
and Pulborough
in the west.
Storrington existed in the
Domesday
Book, listed as 'Estorchestone', meaning a place well-known for
storks. 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 November 11.
Tanning and
blacksmithing
were also important industries and only in the 20th century did
these roles fade away. Rabbit breeding was another significant
industry and an association with this is still extant in the number
of local place names including 'warren', such as Warren Hill,
Sullington Warren and Warren Croft. This working/small industry
background has however, left little behind architecturally.
Nikolaus Pevsner, noted only the small door
in Browns lane, the Church, and the Dominican convent
known as The
Abbey
to be historically significant. Since 1945
Storrington has expanded greatly with a variety of housing projects
enlarging the village. It is still possible to be in open
countryside in a few minutes from the town centre when walking
towards the downs or one of the commons.
Parham Park
, towards Pulborough, is a large and stately country
house with rolling parkland complete with a large herd of
maintained deer. It is open most weekends to visitors. There
is also the
Edwin Lutyens built Little
Thakeham nearby.
There are a variety of places of worship such as St Mary's on
Church St, which is the main
Church of
England place of worship, and the Priory of Our Lady of England
on Monastery Lane, which is the
Roman Catholic parish church of
Storrington.
The Roman Catholic bishops of Arundel
lived nearby
for a while. Other Christian denominations have places as
well, including the
Methodists and
Jehovah's Witnesses.
Storrington has most of the facilities of a small town; a large
recreation ground with
football
(soccer) and
cricket pitches and a
leisure centre. The main supermarket is
Somerfield. There is a wide
variety of shops and businesses, delicatessens, charity shops,
butchers, clothes shops, three pubs (The New Moon, The Anchor Inn
and The White Horse Inn), coffee shops, hardware stores, estate
agencies, two banks, a variety of restaurants, a museum and a Post
Office.
The
nearest large towns are Horsham
,
approximately to the north, and Worthing
, around the same distance to the south.
Mainline
train services can be picked up from Pulborough
or Amberley
. Trains to London
take an hour
and a quarter and terminate at Victoria
. Trains to Gatwick Airport
take around 30 minutes.
References
External links