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 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 cornershop. There are three other shops in Tarring; Tarring Food & Wine, Threshers 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. 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.