Discover Littlehampton, West Sussex

Littlehampton, West Sussex, England: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Looking_across_to_the_Steam_Packet_from_the_retractable_bridge_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1055455.jpg
Author: Basher Eyre


Littlehampton is a seaside resort town on the south coast of West Sussex, England. It covers 11.35 sq km (4.38 sq mi) in Arun district, some 83 km (52 mi) southwest of London. The town has a population of 26,000 people (2012 estimate), and is the westernmost settlement within the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation that has close to half a million inhabitants.

The area around Littlehampton has been inhabited as early as the prehistoric period. The Romans also left evidence of their presence here. In the Domesday Book of 1086, a hamlet called Hantone is listed in the area. It was a fishing community that reappeared in 1100 in a French map as Hanton. It is near the estuary of the River Arun. Over time, Hanton evolved to Hampton.

By the 15th century the River Arun estuary was silting up, leading to the prefix of "Little" being added to Hampton, creating the name Littlehampton, as opposed to the other Hampton along the coast, the larger Southampton.

St Catherine's Roman Catholic Church, Littlehampton: Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Catherine%27s_RC_Church,_Littlehampton_(NHLE_Code_1027807).JPG
Author: The Voice of Hassocks


As with many of the coastal towns along the southern coast of England, Littlehampton developed into a port and seaside resort, spurred by the economic boom during the Industrial Revolution, which afforded recreational opportunities to the population. Littlehampton was a popular holiday resort from the 19th century to the early 20th century.

Today Littlehampton is still an important seaside resort. It is home to the world headquarters of The Body Shop, the major employer in the area. An unusual attraction here is the award-winning East Beach Cafe, highly regarded for its bold architecture as well as its menu quality.

East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton: Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_East_Beach_Cafe,_Littlehampton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1407279.jpg
Author: Kevin Gordon

Visiting Littlehampton

From London, take the A24 road until Worthing, then continue west on the A259 road until you arrive in Littlehampton.

Places of Interest in Littlehampton

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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