I had always believed that the beautiful village of Tarring was separate from Worthing, but turns out that once again I am misinformed. Once upon a time it was the more important town and Worthing was just a small fishing village, but over time fortunes changed and these days it's been absorbed by the ever expanding coastal conurbation. Somehow though it's retained its character and although the oldest part is only a couple of streets now, it's a joy to spend an hour or so there admiring its medieval buildings which are in such contrast to its surrounding environs. Personally I like to have a starting point when exploring new areas and the short heritage walk provided exactly that.
The church of St Andrew's dates from the 13th century. As ever the Victorians have had their mucky little paws all over it, but I found the medieval feel of the 19th century stained glass pleasing. John Parsons died in 1633 and his tomb is now the oldest remaining one in the churchyard.
For those like me who enjoy different architectural styles the High Street is the place to head for. Below we have the timbered 15th century Parsons Row along with the very familiar Sussex flint covered former Malthouse. Many of the houses would appear to be later, but if you were to remove their once fashionable brick frontages you would find the much older timber framed structured hidden behind them. The Castle Inn lamp is an amazing survivor when you consider that the pub served its last pint way back in 1911. Although I spotted the castle adorning the top of it when I was there the presence of the cannons were a later discovery. My absolute perfect type of small and easy to miss detail.
Prior to coming here I had wanted to follow up the legends of both Thomas A Becket and the figs. It is rumoured that the great man himself came here and stayed at the grade1 listed Old Palace below. Sadly the facts don't stack up as this dates from 1230 and he met his grisly end in 1170 nor do the claims end there.
The house below is called Bishop's Garth and is nowadays a private residence. If you squint you can see a fig tree growing up above the garden wall and that's where the former Archbishop of Canterbury comes in again. This time it is claimed that the great man himself planted the first one and this little nugget gave the 19th century tourist industry just the boost it needed. By 1830 the fig garden covered three quarters of an acre and had boasted over 100 trees. Visitors flocked in to see this spectacle and with the Victorian nose for ingenuity very much in full view the house became a cafe. One could enjoy a cuppa and bowl of fresh figs. Legend has is that such was the high quality of the figs an Italian warbler called Beccafico bird would fly all that way every year just to feast on the Tarring figs! Legally the homeowners have to open the garden to the public once a year which they do so in July, but nowadays it's a much smaller affair as much of the land was sold off during the 1980s for house building.
As it turned out this change of plan worked in our favour as we had sea mist and drizzle for most of the time we were out and about...we were never going to get fabulous sea views down in Worthing under those circumstances were we😉There's nothing for it...we're just going to have to hop on the bus another day and give it another whirl. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
꩜Aril꩜
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