Lancing - Wikipedia

Lancing, is (credited as being the largest Village in England) on the western edge of the very picturesque Adur Valley on the coastal plain between Sompting to the west, Shoreham to the east and the parish of Coombes to the north.

Lancing is a mix of coastal urban dwelling and rural chalk downland landscape. The oldest non religious buildings date to around 1500 AD The current population in 2002 is around 19000 and covers an area of 894.2 hectares

Tourism The town has been a popular seaside resort particularly in the mid-19th c. It gained favour from the gentry of the time for it's secluded atmosphere. The town today no longer has a notable tourist trade although there are a number of small guest houses mainly on the coast road.

Beaches There is a shingle beach with good stretches of clean sand at low water. South of the A259 coast road is Widewater, an internationally rare brackish (slightly saline) Lagoon.

Immediately north of the developed area is Lancing Ring a Local Nature Reserve part of the designated Sussex Downland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) to the north of that is farmed agricultural downland connected to Lancing College Farm

Industry Much of the land now covered with housing was taken by a number of family run Market Gardening businesses growing fruit or flowers for the Brighton Market or Covent Garden in London. 'Sparks Nursery' was growing fruit such as Tomatoes. There was 'Mr Marshall's Nursery' and 'Young's' produced Carnations. Chrysanthemums were grown by Frank Lisher on his land south of 'The Finches', the name of the house he built. The Nash family were fruit growers, producing grapes huge under glass cloches that could be rolled into place on a rail track. In the early part of the 20th century the town developed a railway carriage building industry in the area that is now the Churchill industrial estate at the western edge of town.

Law and Order Crime in Lancing is usually at a low level, details of the crimes committed in Lancing can be obtained from http://www.highdownnhw.org/

Twinning Adur is twinned with the town of Riom in France and the town of Zywiec in Poland.