Sompting
Encyclopedia
Sompting is a village and civil parish in the Adur District of West Sussex
, England
, located between Lancing
and Worthing
, at the foot of the southern slope of the South Downs
. Twentieth century development has linked it to Lancing. The civil parish covers an area of 10.35 square kilometres and has a population of 8,514 persons (2001 census
). The name Sompting (known as Sultinges in the Domesday Book
) is said to come from the Old English for dwellers by the marsh (Sompt + ingas).
The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin
is a Grade I-listed Anglo-Saxon
and Norman
church, separated from the centre of the village since 1939 by the busy A27 road
. Its tower is topped with a "Rhenish helm"—a four-sided gabled pyramidal cap which is unique in England. The church was originally built by the Saxons
c.960 AD, then was adapted by the Normans
when William de Braose
granted it to the Knights Templar
in the 12th century. The church later passed to the Knights Hospitaller
in the 15th century.
The Sompting Abbotts building, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick
and completed in 1856, is a school. However this has been the site of one of Sompting's manor houses since Norman times, when it was owned by the abbot of Fécamp in Normandy
, and later owned by the abbott of Syon Abbey
in Middlesex
. In 1248 the abbott of Fecamp had a prison in the village. Queen Caroline, consort of King George IV
stayed at Sompting Abbotts in 1814 on her way across the English Channel to the Continent.
The old Sompting Rectory
building, now used as a nursing home, dates from 1791, however the Rectory has a long history, having previously been owned by the Knights Templar from 1154 and like Sompting Church, passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century. During the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp was built on the Rectory Farm estate, on the west side of Busticle Lane.
Sompting's Parish Hall was originally built as a reading room in 1889 by HP Crofts of Sompting Abbotts manor.
As well as the Anglican
Sompting Church, there was formerly a Methodist mission chapel, registered in 1887, which still stands.
Sompting Community Centre was originally built in 1872 as a Junior and Infants School.
A house which belonged to Edward Trelawny, adventurer, author
and friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley
, is also located in the village.
The parish of Sompting includes the hamlet
of Beggars Bush on the Downs as well as the former hamlets of Upper Cokeham and Lower Cokeham, which are now part of the Sompting-Lancing conurbation
. Cokeham means Cocca's homestead (ham). Sompting also historically extended west to the ancient droveway today known as Charmandean Lane, but in 1933 this land was given to the neighbouring borough
of Worthing. Sompting's eastern border with Lancing has historically been defined by the Boundstone Lane, so called because of the boundary stone or boundstone that lay on the boundary. The stone is now kept in Boundstone Community College.
To the north of the parish, a settlement existed at Park Brow on the Downs in the Bronze Age
and into the Iron Age
and Roman
times. It lasted until its buildings were burned down c.270 AD, possibly by Saxon
or Frankish
pirates. It is supposed that the inhabitants moved from here to the relative safety of the hillfort at Cissbury Ring
.
The highest point in the parish of Sompting is Steep Down at 149 metres (488.8 ft)
The writer Alfred Longley lived in Sompting, creator of the character 'Jimmy Snuggles' and the Sompting Treacle Mines, where incredibly lazy people worked.
Sompting is also known for its mummers play
, performed by the Sompting Village Morris
dancers.
In 2005, a small group got together and started the Sompting Festival, which was held for the first time over the weekend 2–4 June 2006, as one of the launch events for the Adur Festival
. Since then this has developed into the annual Sompting Beer & Music Festival held on Sompting Recreation Ground, West Street, Sompting. It incorporates the Sompting Village Hall Open Weekend, and the Somptin' Old exhibition - a fascinating history of Sompting in pictures set up by former Sompting Parish Councillor Mike Prince, which attracts interest from all over the world.
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, located between Lancing
Lancing, West Sussex
Lancing is a town and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex, England, on the western edge of the Adur Valley. It lies on the coastal plain between Sompting to the west, Shoreham-by-Sea to the east and the parish of Coombes to the north...
and Worthing
Worthing
Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...
, at the foot of the southern slope of the South Downs
South Downs
The South Downs is 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, near Eastbourne, East Sussex, in the east. It is bounded on its northern side by a steep escarpment, from whose...
. Twentieth century development has linked it to Lancing. The civil parish covers an area of 10.35 square kilometres and has a population of 8,514 persons (2001 census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
). The name Sompting (known as Sultinges in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
) is said to come from the Old English for dwellers by the marsh (Sompt + ingas).
The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin
Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, Sompting
The Church of St Mary the Blessed Virgin, also known as St Mary the Virgin Church and St Mary's Church, is the Church of England parish church of Sompting in the Adur district of West Sussex. It stands on a rural lane north of the urban area that now surrounds the village, and retains much 11th-...
is a Grade I-listed Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon architecture
Anglo-Saxon architecture was a period in the history of architecture in England, and parts of Wales, from the mid-5th century until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Anglo-Saxon secular buildings in Britain were generally simple, constructed mainly using timber with thatch for roofing...
and Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
church, separated from the centre of the village since 1939 by the busy A27 road
A27 road
The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 at Whiteparish in the county of Wiltshire. It closely parallels the south coast, where it passes through West Sussex and terminates at Pevensey in East Sussex.Between Portsmouth and Lewes, it is one of the busiest trunk...
. Its tower is topped with a "Rhenish helm"—a four-sided gabled pyramidal cap which is unique in England. The church was originally built by the Saxons
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
c.960 AD, then was adapted by the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
when William de Braose
William de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber
William de Braose , First Lord of Bramber was previously lord of Briouze, Normandy. He was granted lands in England by William the Conqueror soon after he and his followers had invaded and controlled Saxon England.- Norman victor :De Braose was given extensive lands in Sussex by 1073...
granted it to the Knights Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
in the 12th century. The church later passed to the Knights Hospitaller
Knights Hospitaller
The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
in the 15th century.
The Sompting Abbotts building, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick
Philip Charles Hardwick
-Life:Philip Charles Hardwick was a notable English architect of the 19th century who was once described as "a careful and industrious student of mediaeval art"...
and completed in 1856, is a school. However this has been the site of one of Sompting's manor houses since Norman times, when it was owned by the abbot of Fécamp in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, and later owned by the abbott of Syon Abbey
Syon Abbey
Syon Monastery , was a monastery of the Bridgettine Order founded in 1415 which stood until its demolition in the 16th c. on the left bank of the River Thames within the parish of Isleworth, in the county of Middlesex on or near the site of the present Georgian mansion of Syon House...
in Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
. In 1248 the abbott of Fecamp had a prison in the village. Queen Caroline, consort of King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
stayed at Sompting Abbotts in 1814 on her way across the English Channel to the Continent.
The old Sompting Rectory
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
building, now used as a nursing home, dates from 1791, however the Rectory has a long history, having previously been owned by the Knights Templar from 1154 and like Sompting Church, passed to the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century. During the Second World War a prisoner-of-war camp was built on the Rectory Farm estate, on the west side of Busticle Lane.
Sompting's Parish Hall was originally built as a reading room in 1889 by HP Crofts of Sompting Abbotts manor.
As well as the Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
Sompting Church, there was formerly a Methodist mission chapel, registered in 1887, which still stands.
Sompting Community Centre was originally built in 1872 as a Junior and Infants School.
A house which belonged to Edward Trelawny, adventurer, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Shelley was famous for his association with John Keats and Lord Byron...
, is also located in the village.
The parish of Sompting includes the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Beggars Bush on the Downs as well as the former hamlets of Upper Cokeham and Lower Cokeham, which are now part of the Sompting-Lancing conurbation
Conurbation
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban and industrially developed area...
. Cokeham means Cocca's homestead (ham). Sompting also historically extended west to the ancient droveway today known as Charmandean Lane, but in 1933 this land was given to the neighbouring borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
of Worthing. Sompting's eastern border with Lancing has historically been defined by the Boundstone Lane, so called because of the boundary stone or boundstone that lay on the boundary. The stone is now kept in Boundstone Community College.
To the north of the parish, a settlement existed at Park Brow on the Downs in the Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
and into the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
and Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
times. It lasted until its buildings were burned down c.270 AD, possibly by Saxon
Saxons
The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...
or Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
pirates. It is supposed that the inhabitants moved from here to the relative safety of the hillfort at Cissbury Ring
Cissbury Ring
Cissbury Ring is a hill fort on the South Downs, in the borough of Worthing, and about from its town centre, in the English county of West Sussex.-Hill fort:...
.
The highest point in the parish of Sompting is Steep Down at 149 metres (488.8 ft)
The writer Alfred Longley lived in Sompting, creator of the character 'Jimmy Snuggles' and the Sompting Treacle Mines, where incredibly lazy people worked.
Sompting is also known for its mummers play
Mummers Play
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...
, performed by the Sompting Village Morris
Morris dance
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...
dancers.
In 2005, a small group got together and started the Sompting Festival, which was held for the first time over the weekend 2–4 June 2006, as one of the launch events for the Adur Festival
Adur festival
The Adur Festival is a festival in West Sussex, England. It celebrated its 21st birthday in 2008. It has grown steadily over the years from small humble beginnings to its present day size...
. Since then this has developed into the annual Sompting Beer & Music Festival held on Sompting Recreation Ground, West Street, Sompting. It incorporates the Sompting Village Hall Open Weekend, and the Somptin' Old exhibition - a fascinating history of Sompting in pictures set up by former Sompting Parish Councillor Mike Prince, which attracts interest from all over the world.