DURRINGTON – Sources for Local History, Edited by Chris Hare

This booklet gives a summary of some of the documents and source material on Durrington that are to be found in the Local Studies Collection at Worthing Library, these also include old photographs and maps. During the course of one lifetime, Durrington grew from a small village with a population of no more than a couple of hundred, to a thriving suburb of Worthing of many thousands of residents.

All the information in this booklet is referenced, so those wishing to look at the source material in more detail will be able to do so.

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

This publication of this booklet was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and formed part of a wider community history project run through Oak Grove College.

This booklet was edited by local historian, Chris Hare, who has been researching Worthing Library’s Local Studies Collection since he was a college student, nearly forty years ago.

The Durrington Community Heritage project was coordinated

by Caroline Elderfield and William Bauress.

Edited by Chris Hare

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Edited by Chris Hare

Contents

Introduction......................................................... 5 1

Victoria County History Durrington...................... 6

2

The Church and Parish of Durrington................ 10

3

Maps of Old Durrington.................................... 19

4

Photographs of Old Durrington......................... 23

5

Oral History Interview Extracts.......................... 36

6

Newspaper Cuttings......................................... 42

Written by Chris Hare First printed in Great Britain 2017 Produced by Panda Creative Ltd, Worthing (www.pandacreativeltd.co.uk)

Introduction The purpose of this little booklet is to act as a guide to anyone with an interest in the history of Durrington. In these pages you will find extracts from documents held in the Local Studies Collection at Worthing Library. The photographs are also form part of the Local Studies Collection and are reproduced with their reference number. These and other Durrington photographs can be viewed at www.westsussexpast.org.uk/pictures . This survey is by no means exhaustive and further source material can be found in the mini-guide produced by Worthing Library in 2000, and in Jane DorÊ’s book on Edwardian Durrington published in 2015.

This booklet was published as part of a Durrington history project run through Oak Grove College and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).The college wanted to involve their students and the local community in looking at the history of Durrington. Students were involved with oral history interviewing. Students also helped to build a resource centre on the campus, constructed using green oak timbers and traditional construction techniques..

Chris Hare, November 2017.

Copies of the Worthing Heritage Trail for Salvington and Durrington are available from Worthing Library and Worthing Museum, price 50p.

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

1. Victoria County History, Volume 6, part 1 Durrington General In ancient times, Sussex was divided into six administrative districts, known as rapes, while the rapes in their turn were divided into smaller units known as hundreds. Durrington was in the Rape of Bramber and the Hundred of Brightford.

For most of its history, Durrington was within the ecclesiastical parish of West Tarring, although it had its own chapel.

Durrington had its own parish council from 1894. In 1902, the boundaries of the parish were extended to include parts of Broadwater and West Tarring. In 1929, Durrington was absorbed into ‘Greater Worthing’, and lost its civil parish status, although it remained an ecclesiastical parish (see below).

The ancient parish – which dated back to Saxon times – was some two miles long (north-south) and two-thirds of a mile wide (east-west). The northern part of the parish was situated on the downs, rising to a height of 457 feet. A spring rose in the village centre, creating a pond that still existed as recently as the 1970s.

In medieval times there were two distinct areas of habitation in Durrington.

One part was clustered around the chapel and manor house (close to the current crossroads of New Road/ Salvington Hill and Durrington Hill), while the other was situated close to where the current roundabout on the Littlehampton Road and Durrington Hill/ Boulevard junction is situated. The only survival of the latter settlement is St. Mary’s farmhouse. There were also a number of dwellings at Cote (present day Cote Street).

By modern standards, the population of Durrington was very small. Seventy-two adults were recorded as living there in 1676. By 1801 there was a total population of 140, which had still only increased to 153 by 1891. Ten years later the population had risen to 257, although the big increase in population took place after the First World War. Durrington’s two pubs, The Lamb and the North Star, were recorded in 1809, but could be much older. Both pubs were rebuilt during the twentieth century.

Manor and Other Estates Durrington Manor, as distinct from the parish of Durrington, was first granted to Alfwald in 934 by King Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred the Great. The manor may –4–

Victoria County History – Durrington also have included land in the parish of Clapham. After the Norman Conquest, the manor passed to Robert le Sauvage, who also owned the manor at Broadwater.

Thereafter, the two manors of Durrington and Broadwater were considered as one. In the eighteenth century the manor belonged to the Shelley family and descended, through marriage, to the Dalbiac family. Henry Dalbiac, who died in 1900 is the last named lord of the manor. The abolition of copyhold tenancies in the early twentieth century and the increasing sale of agricultural land for horticulture and housing would have hastened the extinction of the manor. The manor house in Durrington dates from the eighteenth century but almost certainly stands on the site of a far older building.

Economic History In medieval times there were about 90 freehold and copyhold tenants at Durrington.

There was sufficient land for eight ploughs. Durrington village and Cote hamlet were each ringed by open fields. These fields had names including South and West Ham, Upper Crickdale and Easter Mills. Sheep were kept on the higher slopes of the downs. There was also common pasture land along the stream at Durrington.

Interestingly, it is believed that Drungewick at Wisborough Green was a detached part of the manor and was used for pasture and dairy farming. Pigs were were also kept in woodland in the Weald. In the fourteenth century the main crops were wheat, barley, oats, vetch, beans, peas, and apples.

In 1818 the remaining open fields and common land was ‘inclosed’ by Act of Parliament. Over 540 acres were apportioned to a small group of landowners. The villagers were granted a small area of land west of Durrington Mill (High Salvington Mill) for allotments. By 1839 there were four large farms, the main crops at that time being wheat, barley, oats, turnips and mangold-wurzels. By 1899 there were only two farmers, with an increasing amount of land being given over to market-gardening.

The windmill at Durrington was first recorded in 1300. It is thought that the current mill dates back to about 1700. It ceased working in 1897. In the early twentieth century it became a tea-house. It was purchased by Worthing Corporation in 1954 and is now run by the High Salvington Windmill Trust.

A brick works was recorded at Durrington in 1768, and there was another in 1896. There was also a forge in 1768, which for many generations was run by the Overington family. During the nineteenth century there were at different times a grocer, a beer retailer and a wheelwright.

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Local Government In ancient times, local disputes were referred to the manorial ‘court baron’. If the case was more serious it would be passed up to the Hundred court or even to the Quarter Sessions. There were various parish officials, who would receive only nominal payment for their endeavours. These included a parish surveyor and an overseer of the poor. The inhabitants of each parish were responsible for ensuring the good repair of roads passing through their parish and the surveyor’s job was to ensure these repairs took place. The overseer of the poor was responsible for the ‘parish [poor]house’ and the maintenance of the paupers therein. He was also responsible for ‘out-door’ relief for the able-bodied poor. Methods of poorrelief used included the provision of clothes and material, food, fuel, bedding, and domestic utensils, repairs to houses, the payment of rent, and medical care. These costs were funded by a ‘poor rate’ levied on the householders of the parish. In 1501 it was reported that Durrington had its own official ale-taster!

In 1803, Durrington united with other local parishes to form what became known as the East Preston Union. By sharing resources, parishes were better able to reduce costs and more effectively deal with ‘pauperism’. Eventually all destitute and infirm people were sent to the purpose-built workhouse at East Preston and the poor house closed, although parish meetings continued to be held there until at least 1839.

In 1894, Durrington became part of the East Preston Rural District Council. This was also the year in which the parish council was created. In 1929, Durrington became part of Worthing and the parish council ceased to exist.

Churches A chapel was recorded at Durrington at the time of the Domesday survey in 1086. There appears to have been a graveyard in the twelfth century. Durrington chapel came under the jurisdiction of West Tarring and was officiated by a curate or chaplain. There was also at least one churchwarden. Although services were still being held at Durrington in the sixteenth century, it would seem that all burials were taking place at West Tarring. By 1617, communion was only being held three times a year, although evening prayer was being read every Sunday. Baptisms and marriages were performed at the discretion of the vicar of Tarring.

During the mid-seventeenth century, the parishoners of Durrington were involved in a protracted dispute with their minister, William Stanley. The parishioners –6–

Victoria County History – Durrington claimed that Stanley rarely held services, and when he did, his sermons were often unintelligible. Stanley, for his part accused the inhabitants of Durrington of failing to pay him the tithes that were owed. The dispute led, in 1652, to Stanley being forced out of the parish.

In the years that followed the dispute, the chapel at Durrington gradually fell into disrepair. In 1680, the inhabitants of Durrington were excused the expense of repairing their chapel and would henceforth worship at St Andrew’s at West Tarring. The chapel bell was sold to raise money for poor relief. By 1777, the chapel was a ruin.

In 1890, an iron mission room was built next to the old chapel ruins, at the expense of the rector of West Tarring. Daytime, evening, and communion services were held in the mission room. In 1915, a new church was built on the site of the old chapel, incorporating some of the walls of the earlier structure. The church, dedicated to St Symphorian, was extended in 1941.

Education A day school for four girls and six boys was founded at Durrington in 1833. By 1860, there was a ‘dame school’ in the village and a private school. Children also attended the schools at West Tarring and Goring.

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

3: The Church and Parish of Durrington by the Rev. Nat Evans, published in 1977.

Evans had access to many old documents relating to the history of Durrington, which caused him to reflect: “When one has deciphered these yellow fragments of paper, devoured by moth and damp, one seems to hear the men of old talking, and one is sometimes almost tempted to speak to them.”

Durrington in Anglo-Saxon times Durrington, or ‘Derentune’ as it was originally known, is first mentioned in a charter of King Athelstan of 934. In the charter the king gives land “to my faithful thegn Aelfwald,” giving him “meadows, woods, streams and all the advantages pertaining to it”. It is believed that Durrington was named after Deora, an Anglo-Saxon chieftan.

At the time of the Norman invasion of England, Durrington was divided into two ‘holdings’, one held by Ulward, the other by Edward. After the conquest, the land at Durrington passed to Robert le Sauvage, who owed feudal allegiance to William de Braose, lord of the Rape of Bramber. Robert le Sauvage was also granted land at Broadwater, Worthing, Lancing and Ashington; so he was a substantial landowner.

The manors of Durrington and Broadwater continued to be commonly owned right up until the nineteenth century, when members of the Newland family were lords of the manor. The manor house, in Durrington Hill, appears on a map of 1724, although it is thought that the current house dates back to the early sixteenth century. It is not known whether Sauvage’s manor house stood on this site.

The Chapel The original Saxon chapel mentioned in Domesday Book was probably built of wattle and plaster and had a thatched roof. There is no record of its history. About the year 1265 it was rebuilt. It comprised of a chancel and a nave. The nave measured 56 feet by 29; and the chancel 23 feet by 19 feet. The current church dates from 1915 and parts of the old medieval chapel were incorporated into the new church. The chapel was allowed to become a ruin in the late seventeenth century, following an acrimonious dispute between the chapel congregation and their minister.

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The Church and Parish of Durrington Various bequests were given to the chapel during the sixteenth century, including a high altar, furniture and fittings. The communion plate from this era has survived until the present day, including a silver chalice and silver bowl. After the closure and decay of Durrington chapel after 1680, the communion plate was removed to West Tarring church, and was only returned when a church mission hall was opened at Durrington in 1890.

Overseers’ Accounts Sadly, the churchwarden accounts for Durrington have been lost, but the records of the overseers of the poor do survive, and give a fascinating insight into the life of the parish in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Durrington had two overseers. In 1734 the overseers were William Ligetter and Realphe Tulley. The poor rate was fixed at 1s (5p) in the pound. This brought in a total revenue of £13 2s (£13.10), which could be used to alleviate the distress of the poor. Each overseer ‘disbursed’ or spent a share of money received over the course of the year. The overseers had to report to an annual meeting of ratepayers at which they signed their names to a resolution passed every year that declared that “Errors accepted, no objections are made to the Disbursements of the Overseers of the Poor of the Parish of Durrington for the year…..”

The overseers were allowed a celebratory dinner every Easter Monday, held at the Lamb Inn, to which the churchwardens and village constables were also invited.

One guinea (£1.05) was put aside for this feast – a substantial proportion of the total rates income. One year the bill for the dinner came to over £2, owning to the “high price of beef”.

Another proportion of the rates was paid as ‘Marshall Money’ that went to the upkeep of the county gaol. Constables were paid handsomely for transporting convicted criminals to the goal (first at Petworth, later at Horsham). Payments ranged from 4s (20p) to £1 10s (£1.50). There were further payments for the removal of paupers who were not of the parish, that is, not born in the parish. For example, Richard Smith was paid £1 6s 4d (£1.32) to remove Richard Bell, his wife and three children, to their home parish of Bosham. This was done to minimise the cost to the parish.

At Christmas – usually St. Thomas’ day (21st December), the overseers dispensed charity to the poor, typically in the form of a dole of 5s (25p) so that they could buy beef for their Christmas dinner.

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History The Overseers also had the power to fine people for drinking when they should have been at church on a Sunday. These fines ranged from 3s 4d (17p) to 10s (50p). These were substantial sums at a time when an agricultural labourer might only expect to earn 10s a week.

None seem to have made such a lucrative living from the poor rate than the medical profession. During the period covered by the accounts, local doctors’ fees ranged from between £20 and £33 per quarter. Treatments administered included supplying pills and powders, applying bleeding, setting fractures, and vaccinations.

More curious treatments included curing a “broken belly” and applying ‘quicksilver’ (mercury) as a cure for the ‘itch’.

Parish Surveyor The Parish Surveyor was another important local official, who worked with the overseers and the churchwardens to administer the Poor Law. The public highways of Durrington in common with other rural parishes were mere earthen tracks or bridleways. These were kept in order, according to the statute of 1555 by the parishioners who had to give compulsory service for six days a year to repair the highways. Wealthier parishioners had to provide horses and carts for the supply of flints to fill holes in the highway. This situation continued until 1835 when the Highways Act empowered each parish to levy a rate and appoint a salaried official to ensure the good maintenance of the highways.

The Durrington Surveyor was paid £6 per year. He in turn paid men, women and boys a daily rate for undertaking repairs. Other men were also paid to transport flints. Roadmending was a lowly occupation. Men were paid between 7d and 10d a day, but women received only 4d and boys 2d for the same work. As with the overseers, the surveyor had to submit his accounts annually to the local Justices of the Peace for approval.

Overington’s forge at Durrington was well maintained with work, mending picks, hammers and shovels, although Overington’s charges of a few pence per item appear quite modest compared to the expenses of the constables, let alone the medical profession!

The Constable The constable was elected every year at the Easter sitting of the Durrington Vestry. His duties were various, and included removing paupers to their parish – 10 –

The Church and Parish of Durrington of origin, arresting fathers of illegitimate children who were not paying for the maintenance of their children, ensuring that the children of the poor were apprenticed to trade, prohibiting drinking, labour and recreation on a Sunday during the hours of Divine worship. The constable had the power to dispense summary justice and could place miscreants in the stocks or even have them whipped at the whipping post. The constable also provided funds for soldiers and sailors who needed to cover their expenses after returning home from active service overseas.

Funeral Customs The old parish documents record the expenses of ‘corpse watchers’ – those paid to watch over a corpse from the moment of death until the funeral. The watchers were expected to pray for the soul of the departed and to light candles around the corpse as it lay in its coffin. There was even holy water to sprinkle over the body from time to time. However, the accounts show that in order to soften the burden of the task, ale, brandy, pipes and tobacco was also supplied and in prodigious quantities.

Corpses were wrapped in woollen shrouds. The coffin bearers were given 10s each for beer at the inn – sufficient to purchase large quantities of liquor. Bread and cheese was also made available to help soak up the liquid refreshment. As well as ale, brandy was also available to the mourners.

The Workhouse, Systems of Employment, Conditions of Agricultural Labourers In 1792 a purpose-built workhouse was constructed at East Preston to provide ‘indoor relief’ for the aged, the infirm or children. Parishes began to join together to pool their resources. In 1803 Durrington joined the East Preston Union. Each Union elected Poor Law Guardians to oversee the implementation of the law and the administration of the workhouse. The Guardians were elected by the ratepayers and were keen to show that they were acting responsibly. A man could be refused admission to the workhouse if it was felt he was able to work. Such men were set to work and their pay of 10s (50p) a day was jointly funded by the Guardians and the employer. These men were known as roundsmen, as they did the rounds of visiting local farmers until they found employment.

The cost of poor relief – both outdoor and indoor – rose markedly in Durrington as elsewhere, from £57 in 1785 to £330 in 1813. Poor harvests added to the distress of the poor. The situation became even worse after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815: hundreds of thousands of sailors and soldiers were no longer required – 11 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History and returned home to unemployment, falling wages and rising food costs. Riots broke out across the South of England. Trouble appears to have been averted at Durrington when the local magistrates agreed to fix wages for labourers at 2s a day, whatever the weather; with further payments for each young child in the family.

1801 Census Throughout its long history, the population of Durrington may rarely have been more than 200 persons, until the twentieth century. The population probably declined in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century as people left villages to look for work in the growing towns and cities. In 1801 Durrington had a population of only 140, 79 of whom were males and 61 of whom were females. Agricultural labourers accounted for 87 of the inhabitants, which making allowances for children and the elderly, must have been nearly all those of working age. There were 23 houses in the parish at that time.

The Village Besides their traditional crafts, innkeepers were often farmers or shepherds, hence the well-known public house was so named ‘The Lamb’. Most households were self-sufficient, making their own clothes and producing their own food and drink.

Among the poorer members of the community, food and drink consisted chiefly of rye bread, cheese and ale. While others consumed in large quantities, bean soup, eggs and bacon, and also coarse fish, conies and other edible vermin, besides game when and where it could be poached.

Inclosure Act By an Act of Parliament of 1818, the common fields and common land in Durrington were inclosed, that is to say the old medieval strips were parcelled up into the rectangular fields that are still familiar in the English countryside. Commons and ‘wastes’ where formally poor men could graze livestock or gather firewood, were also allotted to new owners. It was said that inclosure brought unproductive land into cultivation and thereby increased yields, but small-holders and agricultural labourers often felt aggrieved by the process.

With the passing of the Inclosure Act, familiar names of small landowners whose families had been associated with Durrington for generations disappeared. The principal landowners now mentioned were: Henry Shelley, Elizabeth Dickenson, Thomas Barnard, Thomas Bushby, Mr Bates and Mr Edmunds.

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The Church and Parish of Durrington The Forge, Rose Cottage, and the Overingtons The Forge stood on the crossroads of Salvington Lane (Road) and Durrington Lane (Hill), opposite the Lamb inn. It functioned as a forge from the mid-eighteenth century until c. 1930, when it became an ironmongers. A lawn-mower repair business followed, closing sometime in the 1990s. For this entire period, the Forge was in the ownership of the Overington family. The family lived in Rose Cottage, that stood next to the Forge. Today both properties are private residences, no longer associated with the Overingtons.

In the late nineteenth century, Avis Overington ran a village store from Rose Cottage. She also ran a ‘Dame School’ from the premises, catering largely for tradesmen’s children.

Edgar Overington (1821-1901) was known locally as ‘The Bishop’, not only because he was heavily involved with the church but also because he held nearly all the official posts in the parish, including constable, overseer, highways surveyor, and excise officer. From 1894 he was a member of Durrington Parish Council.

In 1898 Dr W D Springett, Rector of Tarring, and Edgar Overington launched a joint appeal for funds to rebuild the ruined chapel and to maintain a vicar when Durrington became a separate parish. The appeal raised £649, a considerable amount for the time.

Edgar Overington kept a diary recording the events of village life. The following are some examples – • 7th July 1853. Dreadful thunder and hail storm, such as was never known in the memory of man.

• 8th June 1859. Wm. Kennard of Clapham was sheep shearing at Mr Duke, Ham Farm and ran the shears into his breast and died in 5 minutes.

Edgar’s son, Alfred, and grandson, also Alfred, kept up the tradition of service to the community, serving as churchwarden and councillor.

Parochial Tithes A medieval dispute between the Rector of Tarring and the Priory of Sele at Beeding concerning tithes, was resolved by granting both disputants an equal share of the tithes for Durrington. This agreement was observed for two centuries before the Priory of Sele was dissolved in 1459. A certain Edward le Rat, gave an acre of land at Durrington to the monks so that they could erect a barn to collect their tithes.

In return he asked that the monks pray for the souls of his parents and for his own – 13 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History soul too. Requests for chantries – the praying for the dearly departed – was a common feature of medieval religious life.

Rev. William Stanley ejected Two rectors of Tarring (and therefore responsible for Durrington) were ejected or ‘sequestrated’ from their positions during the turbulent era of the civil war.

William Stanley had become rector in 1638 but appears to have fallen out with his parishioners during the civil war period. It was claimed that he had offered his services to the King’s forces when they entered Sussex in 1643 and that he had been with the royalists at Arundel. Three years later the Committee of Parliament for Sussex ruled that Stanley should be deposed as rector. However, a year later they reversed their decision. Stanley then went on to to sue his parishioners for non-payment of tithes. In response the parishioners claimed that Stanley had neglected his duties at Durrington and rarely preached. It was suggested that he reviled the people of Durrington and “spoke maliciously to them when they came to the Sacrement”.

Stanley may have been ousted again or he may have died. No further record survives. In 1662 – after the Restoration, Stanley’s successor, William Pixe was ejected for Nonconformity. These were not happy years for religious harmony in Durrington.

Durrington Chapel in Ruins Following the Restoration, Durrington Chapel became neglected and fell into disrepair.

At some point the chapel bell was sold to raise funds for poor relief. Finally, in 1680, Durrington was formally united with Tarring and the parishioners absolved from all further payments towards the upkeep of the chapel. There would be no religious services at Durrington until the mission hall was erected in 1890. The new church was built in 1915 and incorporated remains of the ruined chapel into its structure.

Tithes By law, the clergy could demand of their parishioners one tenth or ‘tithe’ of all their produce. Some rectors took a lenient approach and were mindful not to extract too much from the poorer members of the parish. However, there were times when even the eggs and chickens in a poor man’s garden, or the fruit on his trees, could be subject to tithes. Many people wilfully hid such produce from the rector. Lengthy and costly disputes could arise over the vexed matter – 14 –

The Church and Parish of Durrington of tithes. In 1615, many people, including the miller, were recorded as refusing to give a tithe of their produce to the rector. In return for the tithe, the rector was supposed to ensure the good repair of churches and chapels and hold regular services. As we have seen, the chapel at Durrington became a ruin and no services were held in the village for over two hundred years. A popular song of the time declared: We’ve cheated the parson, we’ll cheat him again, For why should the Rector have one in ten?

Chapel legend and the Mission Room Local tradition asserts that the chapel continued to be used for weddings, baptism, burials and occasional services seventy years after the amalgamation with Tarring.

Interestingly, separate records for baptism, marriages, and burials were maintained for Durrington from 1724-1752, and signed by William Albright, curate.

In 1890, The Rev. Canon Bailey, Rector of Tarring, erected a small mission room at his own expense and left it in trust to the inhabitants of Durrington. The first baptism, of Frank Cozens took place at the mission hall in April 1893.

The next rector, Rev. Springett, started a fund to raise sufficient money to build a new church at Durrington. On 14th July 1914, by an Order of Council, “the ancient Township or Chapelry of Durrington was constituted as a separate Ecclesiastical Parish”. The Rev. William Penfold, assistant priest at St. Paul’s was appointed the new parish’s first vicar.

The new church was dedicated to St. Symphorian on 13th October 1915 and consecrated on 15th December 1916. Construction cost £1,735. In 1941 the nave, chancel and vestries were added, at a cost of £4,509. By this time, Durrington had become an ever growing suburb of Worthing with a population of thousands, rather than the two dozen or so families recorded in 1801.

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

There follows much discussion about the business life of the church, furnishings and administrative matters and the vicarage. There are also reflections of Christian unity.

Parochial Notes The parish was fortunate to escape the epidemic of typhoid fever that hit Worthing in 1893 that caused many deaths, but Durrington people contributed generously to the Fever Fund.

In 1836 a young Edgar Overington attended Queen Victoria’s Coronation celebration at Arundel Park. He was given a shilling ticket and told to enjoy himself.

Durrington was in festive mood when they celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. The village was prettily decorated for the occasion. The menfolk sat down to a sumptuous dinner, and the women and children had a delicious tea. There were games and dances and the day ended with a grand display of fireworks.

St Symphorian St Symphorian was a second century Christian martyr who died at Autun in what is now Burgundy. He refused to renounce his Christian faith nor to enter into pagan revels. When brought before the Roman governor, he not only refused to retract, but asked for a hammer so he could smash down a statue to a pagan deity. The governor remarked, “The fellow seems to me to be not only sacrilegious towards the immortal gods, but tainted with rebellion.” He was quickly taken to a place of execution without time to bid farewell to his family and friends. While St. Symphorian has several dedications in France, there are only three in England. It is not known why Durrington chose to name their church after this French martyr.

St Peter’s Church St Peter’s Church in Furze Road, High Salvington, was built at the personal expense of the Canon E.W.D. Penfold, Vicar of Durrington in 1928. Built of wood and corrugated iron, it also includes a disused water tower that today is emblazoned with a large cross. On Penfold’s death, the diocese purchased the church from the estate executors. St. Peter’s was built to serve the community of High Salvington which started to be developed after the First World War.

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Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 sheets LXIV.5 and LXIV.9

Published 1875

Maps of Old Durrington

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Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 sheets LXIV.5 and LXIV.9

Published 1898

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 sheets LXIV.5 and LXIV.9

Published 1911-12

Maps of Old Durrington

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Ordnance Survey County Series 1:2500 sheets LXIV.5 and LXIV.9

Published 1932-33

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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PP/WSL/ L000297

Photographs of Old Durrington

PP/WSL/ L000102

Overington’s forge c.1905. The little girl in the middle of the photograph is Margaret Overington with her father, Alfred Overington senior. The sign on the wall reads: “A. Overington, Estab. 1791. Shoeing and general Smith. Heavy and light tyering. Hot and Cold water cisterns. All kinds of iron fencing supplied. Lawn mowers ground and repaired.”

Overington’s in 1928, just before the forge closed in 1930. Already the family business was moving more towards the repair of lawn mowers than smith work. From left to right – Charlie Hill (plumber), Albert Lish (smith), Alfred Overington senior, Alfred Overington junior, Margaret Overington, Benjamin Overington (eldest son and mechanic), Claude Gilbert (plumber).

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PP/WSL/ L000101

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

PP/WSL/ L000298

Overington’s c.1932. Note the new plate glass shop windows and the lawn mowers lined up outside. From left to right – Albert Lish, Claude Gilbert, Alfred Overington senior, Charlie Hill, Joan Overington, Alfred Overington junior, Margaret Overington.

Overington’s in 1988, shortly before the business relocated to the Roundstone site at Angmering. The business closed not many years later, having traded for over two hundred years. From left to right – Andrew Overington, unidentified woman, Alfred Overington junior, Carole Comar, and other unidentified people (almost certainly members of staff).

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PP/WSL/ WA000452

Photographs of Old Durrington

A very early sketch of Durrington, dated 1841. The junction of Durrington Lane and Pond Lane can be seen in the foreground.

Village cottages can be seen among the trees. The building nearest to the viewer is almost certainly the original Lamb Inn.

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PP/WSL/ L001019

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

PP/WSL/ PC007597

Looking down Durrington Hill in 1890. Note the ivy-clad cottages and the woman standing in the street holding a baby. The Lamb Inn is beyond. At the time of the 1891 census only 153 people were recorded as being residents.

Early twentieth century view of Durrington looking east from New Road. The roof of Overington’s forge can be seen over the high flint wall to the left of the picture. The Lamb Inn can be seen on the right.

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PP/WSL/ L001015

Photographs of Old Durrington

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Durrington Pond and the Thatched Cottage in 1923. A boy stands to the right of the picture – perhaps he was hoping to catch some tadpoles? Many Durrington residents regretted the draining of the pond. The area still flooded until fairly recent times after heavy rains.

Pond Lane in the early twentieth century. Durrington Farmhouse – one time home of Baroness Skrimshire, is on the left; and to the right is the Thatched Cottage, home in the 1960s, to the beautician ‘Adele’.

– 25 –

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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Workmen pose outside St. Symphorian’s Church during construction 1914/15.

St. Symphorian’s shortly after its completion. Remnants of the ruins of the medieval chapel of Durrington were incorporated into the structure of the new church.

– 26 –

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Photographs of Old Durrington

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Manor Nurseries in 1910. These glasshouses were reputed to be the largest in Sussex when they were built by Percy Lovell.

They stood to the north of Salvington Road.

Potato picking on land to the west of Durrington Lane in 1954. Houses now stand on these fields, after centuries of cultivation.

– 27 –

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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Old fashioned hay-ricks off Pond Lane in about 1950. It seems hard to believe that such a bucolic scene was photographed within living memory.

Flint Barn at Downview Nursery, Durrington Lane, shortly before demolition in 1967.

– 28 –

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Photographs of Old Durrington

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Durrington School children celebrate the coronation of George V in 1911. The school appears to be in the middle of a field – not a house to be seen!

Durrington School, in about 1920. It stands alone on this part of Salvington Lane (Road).

– 29 –

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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Durrington School in 1944 with overground air raid shelters in the middle ground. A report by Worthing Council for Social Service in that year claimed that discipline had broken down and the children were out of control – a possible consequence of fathers and male teachers being away at war?

Teachers and pupils at Laurels First School in 1989 take possession of a computer and a printer – a gift from the Post Office.

– 30 –

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Photographs of Old Durrington

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Durrington Library shortly after it opened in 1938.

Durrington Library in 1944 looking west along Salvington Road, with village shops to the right.

– 31 –

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

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Milkman, Harry Cooper, with his milk float and trusty horse, Peggy, in Burnham Road in 1960.

Comic Boxing Day cricket match at Durrington Rec. in 1949. Dressing up in outlandish disguises, known as ‘mumming’ dates back many centuries and is referred to by Thomas Hardy in his novels. There is more to this than simply ‘dressing-up’, especially when combined with reverse gender dressing and face blackening. The man with the top hat is Mr Davis, landlord of The Lamb.

– 32 –

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Photographs of Old Durrington

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Boxing Day comic procession. Note that the man of the right with an accordion is dressed as a woman.

Another Boxing Day procession, this time with sea scouts. This type of mummery soon disappeared, although it is still kept alive by Sompting Village Morris, who still perform their ‘Mummer’s Play’ during the Christmas/ New Year period.

– 33 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

2: Oral History Interview Extracts Alfred Overington, born 9th December 1913. Interviewed in 1999. He described himself as “an ancient inhabitant of Durrington”.

The Forge “The forge closed about 1930, round about then, because farming went away from this part of the country. We used to shoe all the horses from Goring Castle (sic) and all the farms around. When I was a schoolboy there used to be at least ten or twelve horses waiting outside the forge in the mornings. So it was quite a busy agricultural area in my youth...”

“I’m not sure [my father] wanted me to become a blacksmith because it was sweated labour. I don’t think anyone would voluntarily go in to be a blacksmith….

In my youth they used to start the forge at 6 o’clock in the morning and be on ‘til 5 or 6 at night. But in the summer… they’d stop from 12 until about 3 o’clock in the afternoon – because it’d be too hot”. “…my father used to go to neighbourhood farms at 4 o’clock in the morning, to shoe the horses before they started work.”

Putting metal tyres on cartwheels “…at the forge, when they put the tyres on the cartwheels, that was quite a big occasion because they had to assemble all the wheels in the yard and then they had to make all the tyres first, you know, bend the iron round on the machine. It sounds simple but in those days it was real hard work. All those tyres that you see on the cartwheels, they all came in long straight bars, you see, so they had to be put through a machine turned by hand to make them round, and then they had to be joined together in the fire, and then they’d be put on a platform – all the different sizes – and then we’d get shavings from the wheelwright on the other side – my uncle had the wheelwright’s shop – and you’d put all these shavings round inside the iron tyre and then you’d stack it with short pieces of wood that you’d get from a woodyard – offcuts – you’d stack it all round. And then you’d heat up some pokers, long bits in the forge fire, about four pokers, and then four people would put them in and light the fire all at once, you see. And the fire would heat up the metal tyres and they would expand, and then when it was ready you’d get four people with sort of lifting clamps, lift it up, put – 34 –

Oral History Interview Extracts them on the wheel, bang them on, and of course the wheel would burn because the tyre was hot. And then the boys – and I was one – we used to stand by with water cans, and when they said ‘put on water’ we used to go round and SHHHH and of course the tyre would contract as it got colder, and fit the wheel.”

Durrington School “We had a headmaster, we called him ‘Sticky Boorer’ for the simple reason that he had a walking stick and if you were sent to him it was whip with the walking stick.

And no pushing your thumbs out of the way or you had a cut across the hand with the walking stick. Yes. ‘Sticky Boorer’ we called him. But he was a great chap really, a good cricketer too. Yes. He played for Broadwater.”

Second World War “We had a plane come down just north of Cote Street – a German plane. I was part of the first aid rescue party based in Findon Road at that time. A garage in Findon Road was our headquarters, and we were called out to this plane. Of course we only had the old fashioned sort of car, make-do ambulance, and we went up Cote Street, the German pilot was killed but the plane was there. It wasn’t very pleasant”.

Putting on your ‘Sunday Best’ You see, in my youth and my connection with the church, the vicar was always addressed as ‘The Vicar’ or ‘Reverend Penfold’ but now it’s ‘Bob-this’, ‘Keith-that’ and even the bishop, you see, it’s ‘Bishop Eric’ and ‘Bishop Lindsay’, you know.

I mean it was never dreamt of in my time. Everyone respected older people in particular. And they respected the offices that they held. Nowadays church-goers go in all sorts of garb, as if they were on the beach. Well, in my time it was unheard of.

People got into their Sunday best, and especially if they were churchwardens, they put on their best suit. I know it possibly didn’t make any difference to them, but it respected the office that they held, and I think that’s important”.

Gilliam Wells, born 1st April 1934, interviewed 2016.

Rural Littlehampton Road “There was a pond, along the Littlehampton Road – I used to go catching tadpoles and sticklebacks and things, and there were quite a few ponds – water fed ponds – and it was definitely fields, and a lot of children used to go up there with their fishing – 35 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History nets and things, and go fishing – and that was definitely country then. That was all very underdeveloped”.

Second World War – Battle of Britain “It had a very nasty effect on me. I can’t see air shows. I can’t watch air shows. I saw too many planes crashing and on fire. It was horrible. Yes, very vivid memories of that”. “…on the top of High Salvington, there was radar – a radar station on the top of High Salvington – and a German plane came down there which I think was a Heinkel, and I got a bit of that plane. We went up there and the ARP and soldiers were shooing us away but all the children were up there grabbing bits of plane. And I had a bit of fuselage, I think, and a bit of plain metal with a number on it, which I don’t know what happened to it because my mother had it for years in her bookcase, and I don’t know where that went to.”

Pamela Jones, born 6th October 1935, interviewed 2017.

Father was a nurseryman My father was a nurseryman and he sort of stoked the boilers to keep the nurseries going for the heat for the tomatoes. I think it was very hard job and very little pay indeed. I did go with him sometimes when he stoked the boilers, and you had to go down the steps and shovel all this coal in and adjust the pipes for the steam to go round…... he worked at Framptons down in the Littlehampton Road, then he moved up to some more nurseries up Ivydore Avenue.” “[my father stoked the boilers] in the evening or at weekends as well – the rest of the time he would be doing the tomatoes – disbudding them – and then he would come home smelling of tomatoes. But as a bonus, the tomatoes that weren’t fit to go to market, that had split because they’d ripened too quickly, he used to bring home these baskets of tomatoes and always we could eat as many tomatoes as we wanted to. There was always a basket of tomatoes in the kitchen and you just helped yourself, which I think is very good for people.”

Outside toilet “[our house] had an outside toilet, which was not a flush toilet. So that wasn’t very nice. And I was afraid of the dark so we had to go out and round there in the dark – and in the winter it was cold and horrid. And also not very nice for the men of the families because they had to be emptied out in the garden and dug in. Not good.”

– 36 –

Oral History Interview Extracts New Road “Well, the road wasn’t made up – New Road, it’s called – wasn’t made up, so that was all puddles and stones – and there was a pathway which people walked which was nice and smooth, but if you went off that it was all stones and puddles. And the milkman came in a van drawn by a horse, and if you asked him nicely sometimes he’d let you ride up there with him a few houses.”

Strict father “... he was very Victorian. Very, very strict indeed; which was reinforced with his belt... He was very strict about table manners... I had to wear this apron which was like a maid’s apron with the round top here and then a great big skirt that tied at the back, like servants wear. And even when I was 18 and [had] left home and came home for the weekend, I still had to put my apron on.”

Reverend Penfold and his wife “[he was] very tall and always very correct. He was a nice man – I found him alright….He was a tall man, very tall, and his wife was very tiny and she rode a bicycle with the big basket and very upright. She was very tiny indeed. And then he had all these sons and daughters. Some of the sons went to live in Africa.”

The Vicarage and Sunday School “I remember the Vicarage because there was an annual fete every year so the Vicarage gardens were open and all the stalls in the field next to it with pony rides and hoopla and things like that….But as children, on the Vicarage lawn we used to dance round a maypole and one of the vicar’s daughters used to sit at an open window playing a piano so that music floated out and the children danced round the maypole. It must have been rather lovely.” “... We used to go to Sunday school, and then, although I can’t sing, I was in the choir so there was practice on a Thursday evening. And then go to church Sunday morning and in the afternoon to Sunday school [and later] the evening service as well...”

Wartime outing “... although it was banned in the war to go down to the sea by Sea Place, we did walk down there sometimes, and every time you went over Durrington railway – 37 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History bridge, when you got to the top that lovely smell of sea air used to greet you. I don’t get it now – don’t get that now – but it was always so exciting as you walked down, to get this lovely smell. And then my mother would take a basket with a loaf of bread and a bread knife and some margarine probably and a pot of jam, and then we’d go down by the beach and have a swim, and have this al fresco meal. It was very nice. It was quite a long walk from The Lamb for a child.”

Mrs Trice’s shop “...there was a Mrs Trice who had this second-hand shop. It was in what is now the RAF barn. And that was a big shop for second –hand clothes and stuff. My mother knew her. I expect – we probably used to go along there for clothes and things because, you know, there wasn’t any money.”

Gerald Thompson, born 30th June 1939, interviewed 2016.

Grandfather market gardener “He grew what was required, from memory – because during the War, the 2nd World War, he was allocated things that he had to grow, and it was mainly the obvious vegetables, carrots, peas, parsnips etc. But he also had an orchard. I think he had something like 30 apple trees, quince trees and pears and so on. In fact I can remember him asking me on one occasion when I would sit outside on the front door on the Arundel Road, and when an army lorry came full of the troops, I had to make sure they got one apple each. And that was my job. Of course he was paid by the Ministry of Defence depending on how many lorries he serviced, rather than how many apples he got rid of.”

“My grandfather had a horse and cart, and of course, dressed appropriately. So the Plus-Fours etc. purely for sensibility – but he used to go down to the beach and collect the seaweed…. he used to collect it and come back and use it as manure, and in particular for growing asparagus. And he had a large area where he grew asparagus.”

Gerald was living in London and at school there during the war years – “And I was asked what I’d like for lunch, and I mentioned asparagus, which nobody seemed to know much about as it was a real luxury – and they didn’t really believe me. And they sent a note to my mother about me telling fibs about what I’d eaten. So she had to correct them. And I was forgiven for that.”

– 38 –

Oral History Interview Extracts Grandfather under attack “...my grandfather saw a German plane and it was discharging its bullets, firing at anything it could see. And he took refuge under the archway at the entrance to Durrington Cemetery. And then he came back and found that much of his crops had been spoilt by the strafing of this aeroplane and the bullets.”

The Lamb pub “...my father’s parents lived at the back of The Lamb and my great-aunt was the licensee of The Lamb…. [her name was] Elizabeth White. And one of the things I can remember is having to go to the jug and bottle door, and I could go in there and get a jug of ale for my grandfather and put it on his tab, and then just walk it back to his house next-door. I used to quite enjoy doing that.”

Reverend Penfold “Oh, he was very likeable. I remember him as a tall, strong man, always spoke very nicely, quite quietly – but he did upset my grandmother because on one occasion when she was hard up he wouldn’t give her any money from the poor box, so that’s how she ended up leaving St Symphorian’s and going to the chapel in Salvington Road [now New Life Church].”

Aunt’s shop (poverty) “...one of my aunts used to run what was called the Barn Stores, which was like a second-hand type shop, which is now the RAF centre. She used to run that and so we were often in there with her, helping out, doing various jobs.”

“Durrington wasn’t a wealthy area by any means and I think the people there needed the likes of my aunt’s shop. People would come in and ask her: have you got a specific item – and I can remember on one occasion a lady come in, she’d had a new baby but she hadn’t got anything to put the baby in. And so she found an old chest of drawers and took out a drawer, and padded the drawer for a bed for this little baby.”

– 39 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

1. Newspaper Cuttings Cuttings kept in folder ‘Worthing Topics – Durrington High Tribute to Two Women Librarians.

Dated 6th July 1938 The opening of the new library at Durrington by Mr. W.C. Berwick Sayers, President of the Library Association. Also in attendance was the mayor and aldermen. The library cost £2,147 to build and contained nearly 5,000 books of which 1,000 were for junior readers.

Mr Berwick Sayers declared that “a town that gives a library to its people gives them a centre of light,” and Worthing was to be commended for its library service. As well as the new library at Durrington, there were existing libraries in Worthing and Broadwater.

Mr Berwick Sayers also commended Worthing for appointing a woman, Marion Frost, to be their first librarian and museum curator, and on appointing another woman, Ethel Gerard, as her successor: “The mantle of Miss Marion Frost has descended on another woman Librarian, whose ability and devotion to service are equalled only by her charm. No town of this size has ever had two such women serving her at once and in succession.”

Durrington and the Overingtons.

Worthing Herald, 13th February 1959.

The Overington family first came to Durrington from Hampshire in 1740. The article centres on the memories of Alfred Overington, then aged 88, who was described as being “spry” and “chuckling”, and radiating “a cheerful and disarming pride in his family and the village they have loved.” He explained how members of his family had held most of the official roles in the parish for many decades. The population of Durrington had been tiny in those years, still being no more than 257 residents in 1901. The significant increase in population came after the First World War, with 1,182 people living in the parish by 1921. The article includes several anecdotes from Mr Overington, including a fanciful tale of the skeleton of a highwayman being discovered by his father during road works on the Arundel Road near Swandean.

In love with a wonderful coach house.

Worthing Herald, 5th May 1961.

Reporter Gail Hodgson is shown around the recently converted ‘Dower House’ – 40 –

Newspaper Cuttings that once formed the stabling block of the neighbouring Manor House. Hodgson commented: “I looked the place over with an envying eye. It was looking at its best with the sun filtering through the trees which line Durrington-hill (sic) and casting cool shadows on the secluded brick courtyard….” It was known that the building dated back until 1724, although parts could be as old as 1500.

His family came to Durrington in 1740.

Worthing Herald 28th October 1960.

Obituary for Alfred Overington senior who had died, aged 89. He had held many official roles in the village, including churchwarden, head of the local special constables, and President of Durrington Working Men’s Social Club.

Here she found the cottage of her dreams.

Worthing Herald 10th May 1963.

The Old Thatched Cottage in Pond Lane had become the home of well-known beautician, Zammit Haines, known professionally as ‘Adele’. The article stated that Mrs Haines had restored the outside of the cottage and had transformed the interior while ensuring the “charm” of the cottage was preserved. A bathroom and a kitchen had been added. It was said that the small cottage had once housed a couple and their twenty children!

Twenty Hours’ Extra Work to Fulfil a Dream.

Worthing Gazette 22nd September 1965 It was reported that twenty young couples, members of the Worthing Enterprise Housing Association, were building their own homes in Durrington. Each house would cost £3,000 to build but be worth up to £5,500 once completed. Worthing Corporation was providing loans to the young couples. The houses were being built on the east side of Durrington-lane.

Do-It-Yourself Houses Open.

Worthing Herald 29th April 1966 Anthony Breed became the first person to move into one of the self-build houses in Durrington. He had been the site foreman during the construction. All the houses were three-bedroomed and semi-detached.

– 41 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Success of ‘experimental’ houses.

Worthing Herald 19th May 1967 Worthing Town Council officially opened a new estate of 48 “industrialised” houses at Durrington. The homes, using advanced construction methods, were built in just 28 weeks – three weeks ahead of schedule. It was reported that the life of the houses in Chiltern Crescent were expected to be as long, if not longer, than those for conventionally built houses.

‘Wonder’ school has never been opened – officially.

Evening Argus 12th June 1967 A school for mentally handicapped children had never been officially opened. The school, known as the Durrington Junior Training Centre, opened in 1966. The Health Minister was due to perform the official opening, but the general election intervened and the visit was cancelled. The school took children from as young as two, as this was the best way to help their future development, as head teacher, Mabel Clark explained: “By getting them in earlier we can teach them essential social training and discipline earlier, leaving more time later on for writing and other important things.”

Vandals hit Durrington Cemetery.

1974 Worthing Gazette It was reported that vandals had broken into Durrington Cemetery at night, pulling over and smashing headstones. Worthing Cemeteries Superintendent, Ronald Girton, commented, “ These marauders got in and created a spate of damage right through the cemetery, damaging between 50 and 100 memorials.” He added that a beautifully carved angel, up to seven feet high, had been completely smashed.

‘Devils’ attacked 78 graves in a night-time raid.

Worthing Gazette 9th October 1974 At a meeting of Worthing Town Council’s environment committee, it was reported that about £2,600 worth of damage had been caused by vandals at Durrington Cemetery after 78 graves were attacked. Councillor Constance Scott, described the vandals as “devils”, who must have had “super human strength” to have toppled over such large and secure monuments. Councillor Mary Goulding thought that the cemetery should be floodlit at night to deter vandals.

– 42 –

Newspaper Cuttings Does Durrington want that store?

Worthing Gazette 21st July 1976 The Worthing Gazette surveyed Durrington residents about a proposed superstore.

Although there were some qualms about increased traffic, most residents seemed to be in favour of the plans. Some residents favoured closing New Road at its southern end to preventing increased traffic movements in their neighbourhood. A minority of residents questions the need of desirability of a superstore. One resident, Mr David Hughes of New Road, intended to send out 2000 questionnaires to local residents.

The scheme was subsequently approved by the council’s planning committee.

Caravans, get out! ‘Disgusting’ state at Durrington.

Worthing Herald 25th February 1977 Travellers’ caravans parked in New Road caused outrage among local residents, with complaints of washing being hung between caravans and with travellers’ dogs roaming free. The council issued an enforcement notice but once it had been served the travellers still had up to five weeks before they had to move. One female traveller explained: “The trouble is people keep moving us on and it is expensive to move. We just can’t afford it. It is up to the council to find us somewhere to live, if they don’t like us here.”

Owner says farmhouse must go.

Worthing Gazette 15th September 1976 Mr John Farquharson, owner of St Mary’s farmhouse, applied for permission to demolish the listed building and put up flats on the site. There were strong local objections. The council’s planning department stated that the building had been allowed to deteriorate. Mr Farquharson denied this, although he conceded that vandals had broken in and caused damage.

Farmhouse ‘eases the eye.’

West Sussex Gazette 27th January 1977 A planning inquiry was held into the future of St Mary’s farmhouse at Durrington.

Counsel for the owner, Mr John Farquharson, claimed that the building was not worth saving and quoted a government minister as saying that too many buildings were being listed. The local council, supported by the Worthing Civic Society, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, the Regency Society, and the Weald and Downland Museum, opposed the demolition of St Mary’s.

– 43 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Owner aims to sell St Marys.

Undated – no source.

Mr John Farquharson was putting St Mar’s up for sale. The building had been subject to fire damage by vandals and would cost £35,000 to make the building “wind and water-tight.” An order was in place to enforce these repairs. The council said that it was waiting to see if “the matter resolved itself” before taking action.

Greed Ruins Dream.

Letter to local newspaper undated.

This is an interesting letter and worth quoting in full – So Pond Lane, Durrington, is to be declassified from its status as a place of special character. It is one of the few natural beauty spots left in Worthing. Long after the second world war its value as agricultural land was appreciated by even the planning committee, and people were thankful that all land west of Durrington Lane was scheduled to be retained for that use. But it was a short lived dream. Greed has destroyed it.

Pond Lane is just a surviving fragment which even nearby development had been compelled to pass by on account of its special character. That character did not only come from the elms. Are such ideals as conservation and Year of the Tree meaningless to Worthing? If the area was made special by its trees can no one suggest replanting during this Jubilee year for future generations to enjoy? If nothing is done we may live to see Pond Lane lined with hoardings extolling the virtues of Japanese cars.

J.L.Burns, Chestnut Cottage, Goring Road, Steyning.

NOTE: the reference to the jubilee dates this letter to 1977 – Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee. The comment about ‘Japanese cars’ almost certainly refers to Nissan having recently established offices in Durrington.

5-4 To Save Old Village.

Worthing Herald 29th April 1977 By a majority of just one vote, Worthing Borough Council’s planning committee voted to protect the remaining parts of old Durrington by creating a conservation area. The new conservation area was to include that part of Durrington Hill north of New Road and south of Bramble Lane. Notable buildings with the conservation area included, the parish church, the Manor House, the Dower House, and Elm Bank Cottages. Pond Lane was not included. One councillors scornfully wondered – 44 –

Newspaper Cuttings what there was worth saving in Durrington, while another stated that a conservation area for Durrington would devalue the existing conservation area in the town.

Durrington.

West Sussex Gazette 22nd March 1979 In a series looking at the villages and districts of West Sussex, John Batten visited Durrington. He walked around the ‘village’, taking to local people and visiting places of interest. He noted the big changes that had taken place in recent decades: “Once the whole area was farmland; then came the nursery boom, and Durrington was covered in glasshouses. In 1929 it became part of Worthing, and its identity swiftly got lost as new estates took over the valuable market gardening land until I doubt if today you will see a sign of a commercial greenhouse anywhere in the parish.”

Batten talks with Alfred Overington junior, who tells him about his family and their continued residency in Durrington for over 200 years. He visits St Symphorian’s , the parish church of Durrington and explains how the present church rose out of the ruins of the previous church that fell into decay centuries earlier. He comments on modern buildings too, including the telephone exchange in Salvington Road and The Lamb pub, rebuilt in 1914. He even finds praise for Durrington’s Manor Parade of shops: “as neat and pleasant a little shopping centre as any I have seen, thoroughly practical and imaginative.”

Batten is rather surprised that the only mention that Durrington receives in Nairn and Pevsner’s architectural survey of England was Durrington High School, which is commended for been “subtly and elegantly handled,” and a “copybook example of professional expertise.” Since the article was written, the building was found to be structurally unsound and had to be substantially rebuilt. Oak Grove College forms part of the new campus.

New face in Lords – Baroness Skrimshire Takes Seat.

Worthing Gazette 7th November 1979 The Right Honourable Betty Harvie Anderson, of Pond Lane, Durrington, was created Baroness Skrimshire of Dunipace in the district of Falkirk. From 1959 till 1979 she had been the Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire and in 1970, she made history, by becoming the first woman deputy speaker of the House of Commons. She had been awarded an OBE in 1959 and was created a privy councillor in 1974.

– 45 –

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Old heart still remains for town’s ‘lost village’.

West Sussex Gazette, c.1990 Julia Peet interviewed local historian, Tony Jenkins, who had been living in Durrington for 30 years. His wife and his father-in-law were both born in Durrington and attended the local school. Mr Jenkins was sad to see the changes that had taken place: “It is always sad when villages lose their identities and become lost in suburbia.” Mr Jenkins commented on the increase in traffic in his time and that Salvington Road and become “like a race track now.” He said he enjoyed putting together the ‘jigsaw’ of local history and hoped one day to write a book on the history of Durrington and the other “lost villages” of Worthing.

Enthusiasm for new community project.

Worthing Herald 14th November 2013 More than 100 people attended the official launch of the Edwardian Durrington project at the New Life Church in Salvington Road. The project, managed by Worthing librarian, Jane Doré, received a £20,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The project would include historical research as well as the creation of Edwardian costumes. The project culminated in the publication of a book, Edwardian Durrington 1901 – 1913.

Cuttings kept in the folder ‘Worthing Topics – nurseries’ Minister Impressed by Nurseries.

Worthing Herald, 8th May 1959 The Minister of Agriculture, Mr John Hare, visited Frampton’s Nurseries in Littlehampton Road. There he met local workers, including Mrs Doris Bastable of Cotswold Road, who had been with the firm for nine years, and Mrs Marie Stevens, of New Road, who had been with Frampton’s for eleven years. It was reported that the minister passed “Through a green jungle of tomato plants, already eight feet high and producing the famous Worthing tomatoes, Mr Hare and his party passed into other glasshouses where they saw carnations and chrysanthemums, two of the firm’s specialities, in various stages of growth and production.”

– 46 –

Newspaper Cuttings

Cuttings kept in the folder ‘Worthing Topics – horticulture They are working to make Worthing a Town in a Garden by the Sea. Worthing Gazette, 27th January 1954 A detailed article describes work at the Worthing Corporation’s Braeside nurseries in Greenland Road, Durrington. Braeside was opened in 1946 and replaced the old nurseries in Homefield Park. Braeside cost about £5,000 a year to maintain and had 18,000 square feet of plants growing under glass. The six workmen employed at the site took on all tasks, from mixing the soil and compost to making the wire baskets which adorned street lamp-posts in the summer. All flowers for civic displays came from Greenland Road. It was possible to hire private displays from among the 5,000 flowering plants kept at Braeside.

Pick your own currants, it’s more fun.

Worthing Herald 9th July 1965 Local journalist, Kath Richards, joined people crowding into Victoria Nurseries at Durrington, picking their own fruit, as she explained: “A basket of currants, some black, some green, juice-stained fingers and a few scratches; but I, too, have to agree that it is much more fun, and cheaper, to spend a morning at the nurseries picking your own blackcurrents than buying them in town.”

Owner of Victoria Nurseries, Mrs H.V.Locock, told Richards that although she opened the nursery gates at 10am, some people were waiting outside from 8am.

From two dozen grapes to 300 bunches.

Worthing Herald 16th September 1966 Mr John Betts of Old Walls, Salvington Road, boasted seven 100-year-old vines, which he lovingly tendered to bring forth his best crop ever. As vineries closed all around Worthing, Mr Bett’s vines proved ever more prolific. He had produced nearly 300 bunches of grapes, of the Hamburg, Cannon Hall, and Muscat verities. He used no artificial heating. He explained that ventilation was very important for the success of his vines and that he got up at 6am in the summer months to open the vents. The vines did not seem to mind the cold of winter. Mr Betts, a landscape artist, described his conservatory as being a delightful place in which to work. “This is a veritable haven of peace,” he said.

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DURRINGTON Sources for Local History Corporation moves 40,000 plants to new nurseries.

Worthing Gazette 11th September 1968 The Corporation nurseries at Braeside in Greenland Road where becoming too small and were also outdated, so 40,000 plants were moved to a new 11acre site in Titnore Lane. Ron Read, parks superintendent explained the necessity of the move: “The old place is crammed full. We couldn’t produce any more plants there because the site is too small. The nurseries are also very small and we need facilities which will enable us to keep up with the needs of the town as it expands.” It was planned to develop the Braeside site for housing.

Sussex Archaeological Collections Volume 41, 1898 In an article about Durrington Chapel, the Rev. W. D. Springett, makes the following observations about changes taking place in the parish – “…within the last two years Durrington still remained a retired county parish, with a population of less than 200 souls. But the scene has changed, a great part of the land has been bought for building purposes; houses are being erected, market gardens, brickyards and glass houses are springing up in all directions, and the time cannot be far off when the rural character of the place will have disappeared.”

Volume 87, 1944 King Aethelstan’s degree of 934 AD “I, Aethelstan, king of the English, raised to the soil of the whole kingdom of Britain by the right hand of the Almighty do give to my faithful thegn Aelfwald a certain small piece of land, that is 12 hides* subject to the Church of Christ of the City of Canterbury in the place which the yokels call Durrington, so that he may have it without the yoke of hateful servitude with meadows, pastures, woods, streams, and all advantages properly pertaining to it, as long as he has power of the breathable air with his nostrils, and of the visible surrounding of his eyes. And after the common death which inevitable but unpredictable, is general to all men, he may leave it freely, passing it over in perpetuity, to whatever heir of succession he wishes.” *A Hide was a measurement of land equal to 30 acres.

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This booklet gives a summary of some of the documents and source material on Durrington that are to be found in the Local Studies Collection at Worthing Library, these also include old photographs and maps. During the course of one lifetime, Durrington grew from a small village with a population of no more than a couple of hundred, to a thriving suburb of Worthing of many thousands of residents.

All the information in this booklet is referenced, so those wishing to look at the source material in more detail will be able to do so.

DURRINGTON Sources for Local History

This publication of this booklet was made possible by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and formed part of a wider community history project run through Oak Grove College.

This booklet was edited by local historian, Chris Hare, who has been researching Worthing Library’s Local Studies Collection since he was a college student, nearly forty years ago.

The Durrington Community Heritage project was coordinated

by Caroline Elderfield and William Bauress.

Edited by Chris Hare