Around 1750 parties from nearby Brighton began to explore the Sussex coast and the merits of the sheltered and sandy beaches of Worthing were discovered. Soon visitors were tempted to stay in the district and by 1760 there is evidence that people were occasionally seeking accommodation in local farmhouses.

About this time a certain John Luther from London seems to have realised the potentialities of the fishing hamlet of Worthing and became the first 'speculator', building a large house capable of providing lodgings for visiting gentry. This house was purchased in 1789 by the Earl of Warwick and thereafter called Warwick House, and may be considered to be the beginning of Worthing as a resort town, which soon took its place among the group of fashionable watering places on the south coast of England.

At this time Worthing and its parent village of Broadwater were still small and primitive settlements where little had happened for hundreds of years and the inhabitants derived their livelihood from agriculture and a limited mackerel fishery.

Only one road existed, leading from Broadwater to the fishing hamlet on the coast, running past the west side of Broadwater Green down what is now South Farm Road (the Brooksteed Lane). After fording the Teville Stream this road divided, the west fork becoming a bridle path to West Tarring; the east fork skirted the Teville Common and then turned south past the site of the future Toll Gate (erected on the site of the present Lennox Hotel in 1808) and then left into what is now North Street, eventually bearing south again into 'Worthing Street', later called High Street.

'Worthing Street', containing the Manor House, was the centre of the fishing community, and at its south end was East Land (Brighton Road), and another common, the Worthing Common, or Saltgrass, which owing to persistant erosion by the sea had largely vanished by the late 18th century.

An outstanding feature of early Worthing was its isolation from the principal roads of the area. The marshy land east of Broadwater and the frequent inundation of the east coastal approaches by the sea contributed to this isolation, and made the opening of the Turnpike Road northwards via Findon in 1804 a factor of great importance in the rapid development of the town during the first quarter of the 19th century.

Once the facility of Warwick House had become available and visitors had begun to take advantage of it, the hamlet soon increased in size with the commencement of building in Montague Place, Bedford Row, the Steyne, Warwick Street and the east side of South Street.

The Steyne, which was completed only on the west side, was in many ways suited to be the focal point of the town, but when in 1835, the Old Town Hall was erected at the top of South Street this area became and has remained the centre of Worthing.

These modest beginnings received impetus, and the fashionable success of Worthing was confirmed by the first Royal vist in 1798, when, on advice of George III's physicians, his daughter Princess Amelia arrived in Worthing, lodging for part of her stay at Bedford House.

Worthing quickly exploited these favourable circumstances and set about providing the basic amenities which were expected in the resort and spa towns of the period; a theatre, an assembly rooms, a covered baths, circulating library, and in many cases a proprietary chapel.

All these desirable features were acquired in some ten years of great activity, during which time, in 1803, an Act was passed giving the small hamlet of Worthing town status. This 'new town' had a population of some 2,500.

The Theatre, which was built in 1807 by Thomas Trotter in Ann Street, was without doubt the most significant achievement of the new resort, and played a key role in attracting both famous actors and patrons during the height of Worthing's fashionable success from 1800 to 1830. Happily the opening of the Theatre coincided with a second Royal vist, for in 1807 the youthful Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, stayed at Warwick House, and her presence in the town was the occasion of a number of visits by her father to Worthing.

Worthing's History

1584 - John Selden, jurist and historian, born at Lacies Farm, Salvington
1759 c. - Warwick House built by John Luther
1733 - John Wilkes visited Worthing to watch the return of the mackerel fishing fleet
1798 - Visit of Princess Amelia, daughter of George III
1803 - Worthing Town Act passed. First Town Commissioners took office on June 13
1804 - First Non-Conformist Church (later Congregational) built at the south end of Portland Road
1805 - John Evans published the town's first guide
1807 - Visit of Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent
1807 - The Ann Street Theatre, built by Thomas Trotter, opened on July 7.
1810 - Town Market opened in Ann Street
1812 - The Chapel of Ease (now St. Paul's) opened.
1813 - Worthing Free School for boys opened on January 1
1814 - Liverpool Terrace begun
1827 - Sea House Hotel re-built
1829 c. - Park Crescent begun
1829 - Visit of Princess Augusta, sister of George IV
1829 - Thomas Henty emigrated to Australia
1832 - Smuggling affray in High Street
1834 - Gas Works opened in Anchor Lane (now Lyndhurst Road)
1835 - Old Town Hall opened
1838 - Charles Hide's Survey and 25 in. Map of Worthing published
1838 - Worthing Institute founded
1843 - Christ Church opened
1844 - Second Worthing Dispensary (later Infirmary) built in Chapel Road
1845 - Railway opened between Worthing and Shoreham. Services began on November 24
1850 - Publication of Edward Cresy's Report on the sanitary conditions of Worthing
1850 - Eleven local fishermen drowned attempting to assist the Lalla Rookh in distress off Worthing
1851 - Portable stocks outside Old Town Hall used for the last time
1852 - John Hampton built the Worthing Corn Exchange at Broadwater Bridge
1852 - Worthing Local Board of Health replaced Commissioners
1852 - Death of Rev. William Davison on April 24
1853 - Great hailstorm severely damaged crops and property on July 7
1855 - The Worthing Exhibition held at the Old Town Hall
1855 - Ann Street Theatre closed on December 6
1855 - Davison Memorial School opened in Chapel Road
1855 - The Lancing road washed away by rough seas
1857 - Water Works completed
1862 - First Pier opened
1862 - The Christian Literary Institution opened in Montague Street opened
1864 - Commissioners appointed to administer the 'New Town' of West Worthing opened
1865 - Heene Terrace and Baths built as part of the new town of West Worthing
1866 - Worthing's first lifeboat, the Jane, launched
1868 - St. George's Church opened in East Worthing
1870 - First Worthing street directory published by Frederick Lucy
1873 - St. Botolph's Church, Heene, opened
1877 - Severe sea flooding on January 1
1881 - Worthing Baptist Church began in Christ Church Road
1881 - Worthing Hospital opened in Lyndhurst Road
1883 - Holy Trinity Church opened in Shelley Road
1883 - Worthing Gazette first published July 12
1884 - Salvation Army riots
1887 - New Town Offices built in Liverpool Road
1888 - Goring Hall burned down
1888 - St. Andrews, Clifton Road, opened
1889 - West Worthing railway station opened
1889 - The reconstructed Pier with south Pavilion opened
1890 - September 3 Charter Day. Worthing created a Borough and amalgamated with West Worthing
1893 - Chapel of Ease became the Parish Church of St. Pauls
1893 - Serious typhoid epidemic in Worthing from May to September
1896 - Warwick House demolished
1896 - Rafferty's map of Worthing published
1897 - New Theatre Royal, Bath Place, opened
1899 - St. Matthew's Church, Tarring Road, opened
1901 - Steyne Gardens Methodist Church opened
1901 - Public electricity supply began
1901 - Royal Sea House Hotel burned down.
1901 - Portion of Roman 'milestone' found in Grand Avenue
1902 - Borough enlarged to include Broadwater and West Tarring
1903 - New Congregational Church, Shelley Road, opened
1908 - Public Library and Museum opened.
1911 - Present Railway Station completed
1913 - Severe storm destroyed major part of Pier
1920 - Worthing Herald first published on May 15th
1923 - Worthing's first major cinema, the Rivoli, opened in Chapel Road
1925 - Band enclosure (now Lido) replaced the old birdcage bandstand
1926 - Pavilion Concert Hall built at landward end of Pier
1929 - Borough enlarged to include Durrington and Goring
1931 - Connaught Theatre opened on April 25th
1933 - 1st January electric train service began
1933 - Pier South Pavilion destroyed by fire
1933 - The new (present) Town Hall opened
1933 - Plaza Cinema opened in Rowlands Road
1934 - Odeon Cinema opened by Earl Winterton
1935 - The Assembly Hall opened
1935 - Pier re-opened
1935 - New Connaught Theatre, Union Place, opened on 25th September.
1936 - Brighton Hove and Worthing Municipal Airport opened at Shoreham
1948 - Beach House saved from demolition
1956 - John Selden's cottage at Salvington demolished
1956 - Seaweed Report published by Council
1963 - Offington Hall and Charmandean demolished
1969 - New Broadwater Bridge opened
1970 - Old Theatre, Omega Cottage, the north side of Ann Street and Market Street demolished
1972 - The Warren demolished
1974 - Guildbourne Centre opened