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The district of Adur, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex, has 26 extant churches and other places of worship, and a further seven former churches that are no longer in religious use. The southern part of the district forms part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, and almost all of the churches are in the towns and villages within this continuous built-up area. The rural northern part of the district has one ancient church that is still in use, and another former chapel that served a now deserted medieval village. Many Christian denominations are represented, but followers of other religions must travel outside the area to worship. Seven of Adur's extant places of worship, and two former churches, have been awarded listed status. A building is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" in accordance with the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport, a Government department, is responsible for this; English Heritage, a non-departmental public body, acts as an agency of the department to administer the process and advise the department on relevant issues. There are three grades of listing status. Grade I, the highest, is defined as being of "exceptional interest"; Grade II * is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and Grade II, the lowest, is used for buildings of "special interest". By the 11th century, the area now covered by Adur district had several small settlements, each with their own church. Although some have been restored and altered, most ancient structural work and internal features remain. These include an anchorite's cell (where a hermit was walled up for life), a rare series of wall paintings,〔 an example of the Tapsel gate design found only in Sussex,〔 and a "Rhenish helm" four-gabled tower cap that is unique in England.〔 ==Location== Adur, which has an area of , is a coastal district between the South Downs and the English Channel. The city of Brighton and Hove lies to the east, and Worthing is to the west. The River Adur, from which the district takes its name, flows from north to south and cuts the area in two. In the Saxon and Norman eras, villages developed on both sides: Southwick, Kingston Buci and Shoreham in the east; Lancing and Sompting in the west.〔 Each had its own ancient church. As the settlements grew, they merged into a continuous urban area and absorbed hamlets such as Upper Cokeham, Lower Cokeham〔 and Fishersgate. Housing spread on to the lower slopes of the Downs, but little extended north of the Old Shoreham Road (built as the main east-west route through the area in the 18th century).〔 The A27 trunk road now forms the northern limit of the urban area. Churches had been founded at Southwick,〔 Kingston Buci, Old Shoreham, Sompting,〔 the downland village of Coombes and the now abandoned village of Old Erringham〔 at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. New Shoreham's church existed by the end of the 11th century,〔 and Lancing had one by the 12th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「List of places of worship in Adur」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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