Worthing, Sussex Genealogy

Guide to Worthing, Sussex ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Church History
Worthing has seen the development of chapels and churches in the town over several centuries.

A chapel at Worthing was recorded in 1291, and in 1410 was being used for mass. Two chaplains, possibly of Worthing chapel, occurred in the early 15th century. The chapel still existed in the early 16th century, but by 1575 was in private hands. It had been demolished by 1635 when the rector of Broadwater claimed its site as part of the endowment of Broadwater church. That site is unknown; the identification with Vicarage Garden, north of North Street, is doubtful.

After at least two unsuccessful attempts to build a chapel of ease to Broadwater an Act of 1809 appointed trustees, including the rector of Broadwater, to build one. The rector was empowered to nominate a curate, but no marriages or burials were to be performed in the chapel. The building, in Chapel Road, was consecrated in 1812, but it remained a chapel of ease until 1894 when a parish was formed out of Broadwater and St. George's parishes. The benefice was called a perpetual curacy until c. 1902 and thereafter a vicarage. In 1898 its patronage was transferred from the rector of Broadwater to trustees, with whom it remained in 1978.

The chapel was built by subscriptions, and money was raised to maintain it and to pay the incumbent by the sale or leasing of pews and by a rate levied on the pews' proprietors. In 1813 most of the proprietors were those who let lodgings and furnished houses. The pews were freely bought and sold until the 1880s when many were redeemed and presented to the diocese. The rector of Broadwater provided a house for the incumbent by 1853. A vicarage in Ambrose Place had been acquired by 1905. The Good Shepherd mission room in Gordon Road was licensed for worship in 1908. It had been closed by 1972. From Worthing: Churches', A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1: Bramber Rape (Southern Part) (1980), pp. 119-122. here

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Other places of worship include

Baptist Church dates from 1882 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Baptist Church Sussex Online Parish Clerks(OPC) Clifton Hall (Plymouth Brethren) Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Congregational Chapel demolished 1978 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Congregational Church dates from 1903 Sussex online Parish Clerks (OPC) Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Evangelical Protestant Chapel demolished 1969 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Gospel Hall (Plymouth Brethren) built 1887 demolished 1918 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Gospel Hall (Plymouth Brethren) Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Methodist Chapel Bedford Road Closed 1900 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Wesleyan Methodist Church Steyne Gardens Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Methodist Church dates from 1884 Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) New Street Chapel Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Newland Road Mission Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Primitive Methodist Church Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Providence Chapel (Methodist) Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Salvation Army Citadel Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Sion Convent Chapel (Roman Catholic) Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) St James Hall Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Tabernacle Chapel Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Veritas (Unity) Hall Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) West Worthing Tabernacle Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) Worthing Tabernacle Sussex online Parish Clerks (OPC)

List of demolished worship places in West Sussex and list of places of worship in Worthing Wikipedia

Chapel and church building
The Ancient Parish of Broadwater, Sussex included Worthing and from it were formed:

Worthing St Andrew, Sussex Worthing Christ Church, Sussex Worthing St George, Sussex Worthing St Paul, Sussex Worthing Holy Trinity, Sussex

Websites
Here is a site with information on Worthing Sussex.