Lancing, West Sussex
village and civil parish in West Sussex, England
Lancing is a large coastal village and civil parish in the Adur district of West Sussex, England, on the western edge of the Adur Valley. It occupies part of the narrow central section of the Sussex coastal plain between smaller Sompting to the west, larger Shoreham-by-Sea to the east, and the parish of Coombes to the north. Excluding definitive suburbs it may have the largest undivided village cluster in Britain. However, its economy is commonly analysed as integral to the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. Its settled area beneath the South Downs National Park covers 3.65 square miles (9.5 square kilometres; 2,340 acres), the majority of its land.
The Lancing area is characterised by mid-rise coastal urban homes, farmland, and wildlife reserves of the northern chalk downs and River Adur estuary. There are non-religious structures that date back to the early 16th century. The population in 2002 was approximately 19,000. In the 2011 census the population for Lancing and Coombes was recorded as 18,810.
The village was a popular seaside resort in the mid-19th century.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lancing, West Sussex” as village and civil parish in West Sussex, England. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as village and civil parish in West Sussex, England. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1020014. VIAF identifies the subject as 155981941. The Library of Congress control number is n83222040. Authority coordinates are 50.832, -0.319. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002 and 2011.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lancing, West Sussex”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lancing, West Sussex primary sources, Lancing, West Sussex archive and Lancing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lancing, West Sussex”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lancing, West Sussex” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.