Worthing is a large seaside town in Sussex, England in the United Kingdom. The history of the area begins in Prehistoric times and the present importance of the town dates from the 19th century.
Prehistory
Stone Age
Within of Worthing's town centre lie four of Britain's 14 confirmed Neolithic flint mines. The oldest of these mines, at Church Hill in Findon, may be one of the earliest known mines in Britain. Thought to date from the 5th millennium BC and 4th millennium BC, these mines represent some of the oldest mines in Europe, if not the world and predate the great neolithic sites of Stonehenge and Avebury. In the Neolithic period, the South Downs above Worthing was one of Britain's largest and most important flint-mining centres. These extensive flint mines which include the considerable mines at Cissbury are in many ways comparable to the vast flint mines of Spiennes in Belgium which have been given World Heritage Site status.
The secondary southern escarpment of the South Downs close to Worthing, south of the main ridge of the Downs (formed by hills such as Steep Down, Cissbury, Church Hill and Harrow Hill) is most visible west of the River Adur and it is this flint which is especially hard and durable and hence valuable in Neolithic times. Flint from these early mines played a significant role in enabling the "Neolithic Revolution" to take place across southern Britain, gradually replacing the nomadic hunter-gatherer way of life of the mesolithic period with the settled agricultural way of life of the neolithic period as the extensive wildwood forest that covered much of Britain began to be felled. There is evidence that flint from the mines around Worthing was traded across southern Britain, particularly to the populous areas on the Wessex downland.
The flint mines were at Harrow Hill in Patching (mined from 4250 BC to 3500 BC), Blackpatch Hill in Clapham (4350 BC to 3500 BC), Church Hill in Findon (4500 BC to 3750 BC)— all outside the present borough of Worthing—and Cissbury, which is within the borough and which had between 100 and 200 mineshafts, making it Britain's second largest after Grimes Graves in Norfolk. Tolmere, near Findon, has been identified as a probable site. Sites at High Salvington and Mount Carvey, within the borough, and at nearby Myrtlegrove and Roger's Farm in Patching and Findon, have all been identified as possible, but cannot be confirmed because of plough disturbance. The flints would have been used to make tools such as axes, scrapers and arrow heads. At Harrow Hill, dozens of ox skulls have been found, suggesting ritual slaughter—possibly each autumn, as many animals would not have survived the winter. In the mineshafts, drawings of an Earth Spirit and phalluses may have been used to protect the fertility of the mines. At Blackpatch, remains of what appear to be miners' huts have been found. At Cissbury, there were more than 270 pits, and the flint was used locally and exported—possibly as far as the eastern Mediterranean. Some shafts extended up to below the surface. Four engravings, of a bull and deer, have been found in a shaft of one of the Cissbury flint mines. This is significant as few pieces of representational art survive from the British Neolithic period.
For much of the neolithic period of the Stone Age, it is likely that the Worthing area was at the borders of territory of two tribes, one based at the causewayed enclosure at Whitehawk Camp (in modern Brighton) and one centred on the causwayed enclosure at the Trundle (near modern Chichester). However the apparent absence of settlement in the area at this time and other evidence from the mines themselves adds to speculation that the mines were special places, with sacred areas surrounding the mines. Such an area may have existed between the rivers Adur and Arun where the mines were situated on a block of downland that does not appear to contain any other contemporary monument. The high status of this area, compared to the rest of Sussex, may have continued on into the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Henges seem to have existed on the Downs near Worthing at Blackpatch, Church Hill, Cissbury and also at Cock Hill, midway between the neolithic mining areas of Harrow Hill and Blackpatch. At Cock Hill lies a henge dating from the late neolithic period, 48 metres in diameter, roughly circular, with a single entrance to the south-east. Various round barrows have been found on the Downs near Worthing close to Blackpatch and Church Hill.