Tarring, West Sussex

infobox UK place
country = England
static_

static_image_caption= Church of St. Andrew
latitude= 50.82476
longitude= -0.39385
official_name = West Tarring
population =
civil_parish=
shire_district= Worthing Borough
shire_county= West Sussex
region= South East England
constituency_westminster= Worthing West
post_town=
postcode_district =
postcode_area=
dial_code=
os_grid_reference= TQ132040

West Tarring s a neighbourhood of the Borough of Worthing in West Sussex, England. It lies on the A2031 road 1.2 miles (2km) northwest of the town centre. It is officially called West Tarring or, less commonly, Tarring Peverell, to differentiate it from Tarring Neville near Lewes, but is usually called just "Tarring" (pronounced "Ta-ring", not "Tar-ring").

History

Tarring was given by King Athelstan of England to the archbishops of Canterbury in the 10th century and there is a tradition that the village was visited by Thomas à Becket, the martyred archbishop, in the 12th century and also St Richard of Chichester, patron saint of Sussex, in the 13th century.

West Tarring is noted for its 13th century parish church of St Andrew, 13th century Archbishop's Palace, numerous old houses including the 15th century timber-framed Parsonage Row, and two pubs: "The Vine" and the "George and Dragon".

Despite Tarring High Street being a relatively short and very narrow road, it was once home to five pubs and was also the route for double decker buses. This is the reason for the "George and Dragon"'s unusually high pub sign. A lamp case bearing the legend "Castle Inn" is still present outside one of the former public houses.

Modern Tarring

West Tarring had an ancient fig garden, dating from 1745 or earlier. This garden survived for nearly 250 years but most of it was destroyed in the late 20th century to make way for property development.

West Tarring's sub-Post Office was closed down in 2004. The closure of rural Post Offices is a controversial issue in the UK. Despite this the shop that used to be the Post Office is still in use as a general store. There are three other shops in Tarring; Tarring Food & Wine, The Local and Duke's, a small bakery. There remains an unspoken gentleman's agreement between the four establishments that none of them will encroach on the other's trade. However they are now threatened by the construction of a Tesco Express on the nearby Rectory Road. It retains a village atmosphere despite its being now a suburb of Worthing.

The nearest railway station is West Worthing, 0.8 km (0.5 miles) away.

The former village has now become a commuter feeder area and suburban enclave with locally well known residents including Ian Hart, a strong Brighton & Hove Albion supporter, broadcaster on BBC Southern Counties radio and local undertaker. Roy Stannard, the co-founder of 107.7 Splash FM and business economic partnership Worthing First has also made his home there in recent years.

Tarring is home to ale and specialist beer pub "The Vine", noted for several years in CAMRA's "Good Beer Guide". Though once extremely popular with local families, "The Vine" seems recently to have lost some custom to Tarring's other pub "The George and Dragon".