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Worthing, a seaside resort on the English Channel coast of West Sussex, southeast England, has a long maritime history predating its late 18th-century emergence as a fashionable holiday and residential town. Fishing was a major economic activity for centuries, and still retains a small presence on Worthing's shingle shoreline. Smuggling, usually by sea, also contributed to the growing town's economy. The formerly sandy beach has changed over time, partly because of sea defence work carried out to alleviate concerns over flooding, which has affected the town several times. Large seaweed deposits, driven up from the sea bed, have caused occasional problems, while undersea rock formations off the coast have national importance as a wildlife habitat. There have been many shipwrecks and groundings in the area, and lifeboats were stationed in the town for many years. ==Beach and coastline== Worthing is situated on a small ridge next to the English Channel coast. The geology and physical geography of the coastline encourage erosion and longshore drift, which have had major effects on the hinterland. The coastline is almost entirely built up, but there are some gaps such as Goring Gap and the grounds of Beach House. Worthing developed in the pre-medieval era as a small southern outpost of the parish and larger village of Broadwater, based on farming and fishing. Teville Stream and its estuary, upon which a harbour was situated by the 14th century, separated the hamlet from Broadwater. The early farmers reclaimed land from the sea, but it was lost again to flooding during the Middle Ages. Soon after this, a bar of shingle began to form in the sea, affecting the current and also the tidal flow of the stream. This protected the coastline and allowed salt marshes to form.〔 Usually called the "saltgreen", "Worthing Common" or, most often, the "saltgrass",〔 this fertile soil contained large amounts of salt—the most important preservative agent of the pre-refrigeration era. Salt and other minerals were extracted, and the land was used for farming.〔 Instead of being enclosed, as much land was at the time, it was left as common land; Worthing's inhabitants were granted leases to graze their animals on it. Some buildings also stood there: an early courthouse, and some buildings called "shops" which were likely to be fishing-related.〔 The first of these was documented in the early 17th century, and several others were known about later that century. Storms in the 17th century and in 1703 started to damage this exposed land, and it was completely undermined in the 18th century. An inn on the saltgrass was destroyed by the sea in 1772: its remains were washed on to the beach during a winter storm. The of saltgrass remaining in the middle of the 18th century had disappeared by the early 19th century, and a beach of fine golden sand appeared in its place.〔〔〔 The shingle bar, which wind and wave action had gradually moved towards the shore, had also contributed to these changes, and its undesirable effect on the flow of water around the estuary resulted in the town commissioners breaking it up at the start of the 19th century.〔 At the same time, groynes were constructed to attempt to save the land on which the growing town was built from erosion. This was only partly successful—floods affected the town centre several times during the 19th century, particularly on New Year's Day 1877 when water reached a long way inland—and accumulations of stones and shingle started to affect the quality of the beach.〔〔 Storms in 1866 forced the esplanade (originally built in 1819) to be repaired.〔 By the 20th century, the beach was composed entirely of large, coarse stones called Coombe Rock. The esplanade was extended to the east and west during the 1930s,〔 and sea defences were improved further from 1990 onwards when blocks of stone were built into the beach at three points. Long-term trends suggest that shingle will continue to accumulate on the beach and make it shelve more steeply, and the land will continue to erode (especially if sea levels rise) and be carried off to the east on sea currents. There are three capstans on Worthing beach. All survive from the 19th century, when they were used by boat crews. 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「Maritime history of Worthing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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