Storrington

Storrington is a village in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England, and one of two in the civil parish of Storrington and Sullington. Storrington lies at the foot of the north side of the South Downs. As of 2006 the village has a population of around 4,600. It has one main shopping street (The High Street). The A283 road runs directly through the middle and connects Storrington to Steyning in the east and Pulborough in the west.

Storrington existed in the Domesday Book, listed as 'Estorchestone', meaning a place well known for storks. A charter to hold a regular market on Wednesdays was granted by Henry IV in 1400, together with permissions for three fairs during the year, on Mayday, Wednesday of Whit week and the Feast of Martin on November 11. Tanning and blacksmithing were also important industries and only in the 20th century did these roles fade away. Rabbit breeding was another significant industry and an association with this is still extant in the number of local place names including 'The Warren', such as Warren Hill, Sullington Warren and Warren Croft. This working/small industry background has however, left little behind architecturally. Nikolaus Pevsner, noted only the small door in Browns lane, the Church, and the Dominican convent known as The Abbey to be historically significant. Since 1945 Storrington has expanded greatly with a variety of housing projects enlarging the village. It is still possible to be in open countryside in a few minutes from the town centre when walking towards the downs or one of the commons.

Storrington is thinly disguised as the home of the home team in Hugh de Selincourt's cricket novel The Cricket Match, complete with chestnut trees and duck pond. In later editions a cartoon map of the village is used as end pages. John Parker wrote effectively a sequel in "The Village Cricket Match" in 1977.

Parham Park, towards Pulborough, is a large country house with rolling parkland complete with a large herd of maintained deer. It is open most weekends to visitors. There is also the Edwin Lutyens built Little Thakeham nearby.

There are a variety of places of worship such as St Mary's on Church St, which is the main Church of England place of worship, and the Priory of Our Lady of England on Monastery Lane, which is the Roman Catholic parish church of Storrington. The Roman Catholic bishops of Arundel lived nearby for a while. Other Christian denominations have places as well, including the Methodists and Jehovah's Witnesses.

Storrington has most of the facilities of a small town; The main supermarket is Waitrose, which previously was Somerfield. There is a wide variety of shops and businesses, delicatessens, charity shops, butchers, clothes shops, three pubs (The Moon, The Anchor Inn and The White Horse Inn), coffee shops, hardware stores, estate agencies, four banks, a variety of restaurants, a museum and a Post Office.

The nearest large town is Worthing, approximately 11 mi to the south, followed by Horsham, approximately 14 mi to the north. Mainline train services can be picked up from Pulborough or Amberley. Trains to London take an hour and a quarter and terminate at Victoria. Trains to Gatwick Airport take around 25 minutes.

Sport and leisure
Storrington has a Non-League football club Storrington F.C. who play at The Recreation Ground.

Storrington has most of the facilities of a small town; a large recreation ground with football (soccer) and cricket pitches and a leisure centre.