West Sussex is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Crawley.
The county has a land area of and an estimated population of 925,000 in 2026. The largest settlements are on the coast, and include the towns of Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, and Worthing; the last two are part of the Brighton and Hove built-up area, which extends into East Sussex. The interior of the county is generally rural, and contains the towns of Crawley and Horsham in the north-east and the city of Chichester in the south-west. For local government purposes West Sussex is a non-metropolitan county with seven districts. West Sussex and East Sussex were historically a single county, Sussex.
The South Downs are a defining feature of the county, crossing it from east to west and dividing the north and south. The downs are a chalk escarpment which falls away sharply into the Weald to the north and more gently toward the south, where there is a narrow strip of flat land between the hills and the coast. The coastal strip widens to the west, where it is punctuated by Chichester Harbour, a ria.
The county has a long history of human settlement dating back to the Lower Paleolithic era. During the Roman conquest of Britain, Romans conquered the Atrebates, West Sussex's indigenous Britons, and incorporated the area as a Roman province. During the Early Middle Ages, the Saxons settled the area, establishing the Kingdom of Sussex in 477, which lasted until when the kingdom was annexed by Wessex. It is home to Gatwick Airport, the UK's the second-busiest airport by total passenger traffic. The county has a number of stately homes including Goodwood, Petworth House and Uppark, and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle.
History
The name Sussex, derived from the Old English 'Sūþseaxe' ('South Saxons'), dates from the Saxon period between AD 477 to 1066, and the history of human habitation in Sussex goes back to the Old Stone Age.Armstrong. History of Sussex. Chapter 2. The first Inhabitants The oldest hominin remains known in Britain were found at Eartham Pit, Boxgrove.A History of Britain, Richard Dargie (2007), p. 8–9 Prehistoric monuments include the Devil's Jumps, a group of Bronze Age burial mounds, and the Iron Age Cissbury Ring and Chanctonbury Ring hill forts on the South Downs.
The Roman period saw the building of Fishbourne Roman Palace and rural villas such as Bignor Roman Villa together with a network of roads including Stane Street, the Chichester to Silchester Way and the Sussex Greensand Way. The Romans used the Weald for iron production on an industrial scale.H. Cleere & D. Crossley, Iron industry of the Weald (2nd edn, Merton Priory Press, Cardiff, 1995), 79–84; based on work by H. F. Cleere, including 'Some operating parameters for Roman ironworks' Inst Archaeol. Bull. 13 (1976), 233–46.
The foundation of the Kingdom of Sussex is recorded by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for the year AD 477; it says that Ælle arrived at a place called Cymenshore in three ships with his three sons and killed or put to flight the local inhabitants. The foundation story is regarded as somewhat of a myth by most historians, although the archaeology suggests that Saxons did start to settle in the area in the late 5th century.Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Parker MS. 477AD. pg 9 The Kingdom of Sussex was absorbed into Wessex as an earldom and became the county of Sussex.
With its origins in the kingdom of Sussex, the later county of Sussex was traditionally divided into six units known as rapes. By the 16th century, the three western rapes were grouped together informally, having their own separate Quarter Sessions. These were governed by a separate county council from 1888, the county of Sussex being divided into the administrative counties of East and West Sussex. In 1974, West Sussex was made a single ceremonial county with the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. At the same time a large part of the eastern rape of Lewes (the Mid Sussex district which includes the towns of Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred into West Sussex.
Until 1834, provision for the poor and destitute in West Sussex was made at parish level. From 1835 until 1948 eleven Poor Law Unions, each catering for several parishes, took on the job.
Settlements
Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the Brighton Main Line and M23/A23 corridor. The town of Crawley is the largest in the county with an estimated population of 106,600. The coastal settlement of Worthing closely follows with a population of 104,600. The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and the market town of Horsham are both large towns. Chichester, the county town, has a cathedral and city status, and is situated not far from the border with Hampshire. Other conurbations of a similar size are Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath in the Mid Sussex district, Littlehampton in the Arun district, and Lancing, Southwick and Shoreham in the Adur district. Much of the coastal town population is part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation.
Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, including Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, Selsey, Steyning, Henfield, Pulborough and Storrington. Other notable villages include Billingshurst, Copthorne, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and Lindfield.
Geography
Physical geography
West Sussex is bordered by Hampshire to the west, Surrey to the north and East Sussex to the east. The English Channel lies to the south. The area has been formed from Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous rock strata, part of the Weald–Artois Anticline. The eastern part of this ridge, the Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey has been greatly eroded, with the chalk surface removed to expose older Lower Cretaceous rocks of the Wealden Group.Gallois R.W. & Edmunds M.A. (4th Ed 1965), The Wealden District, British Regional Geology series, British Geological Survey, In West Sussex the exposed rock becomes older towards the north of the county with Lower Greensand ridges along the border with Surrey including the highest point of the county at Blackdown. Erosion of softer sand and clay strata has hollowed out the basin of the Weald leaving a north facing scarp slope of the chalk which runs east and west across the whole county, broken only by the valleys of the River Arun and River Adur. In addition to these two rivers which drain most of the county a winterbourne, the River Lavant, flows intermittently from springs on the dip slope of the chalk downs north of Chichester. Some intermittent streams are known in the local dialect as "rifes".
The county makes up 1.52% of the total land of England, making it the 30th largest county in the country.
Climate West Sussex is the sunniest county in the United Kingdom, according to Met Office records. Over the 29 years to 2011 it averaged 1902 hours of sunshine per year. Sunshine totals are highest near the coast with Bognor Regis often having the highest in mainland England, including a total of 2237 hours in 1990. Mean annual temperature for southern coastal counties is around 11 °C. The coldest month, January, has mean daily minimum temperatures of around 3 °C near the coast and lower inland. July tends to be the warmest month when mean daily maxima tend to be around 20 °C. A maximum temperature of 35.8 °C occurred at Wiggonholt on 24th June 2026. Coastal high temperatures are often moderated by cooler sea breezes.
Monthly rainfall tends to be highest in autumn and early winter and lowest in the summer months, with July often being the driest month. There is less rainfall from summer convective showers and thunderstorms than in inland areas. The county can suffer both from localised flooding caused by heavy rainfall and from water shortages caused by prolonged periods of below average rainfall. Winter rainfall is needed to recharge the chalk aquifers from which much of the water supply is drawn.
Communications and transport The M23 motorway runs from London to the south of Crawley. The A23 and A24 roads run from London to Brighton and Worthing respectively with the A29 a little further west ending in Bognor Regis. Other major roads are the A272 which runs east to west through the middle of the county and the A27 which does the same but closer to the coast. The A259 is a local alternate route to the A27 in the eastern coastal strip.
Gatwick Airport, which handled over 33 million passengers and had over 250,000 aircraft movements in 2011, is located within the borders of Crawley, and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller local airport at Shoreham Airport and a grass airfield handling light aircraft and helicopters at Chichester/Goodwood Airport. There are three main railway routes: the Brighton Main Line, the Arun Valley line and the West Coastway line. The Portsmouth Direct line serves and occasionally enters the westernmost part of West Sussex, although it has no railway stations in the county.
Politics
Members of Parliament Since the 2024 general election, West Sussex has been represented by Three Conservative, three Labour and three Liberal Democrat Members of Parliament (MPs). ConstituencyMember of ParliamentPartyArundel & South DownsAndrew GriffithConservativeBognor Regis & LittlehamptonAlison GriffithsConservativeChichesterJess Brown-FullerLiberal DemocratCrawleyPeter LambLabourEast Grinstead & Uckfield (part) Mims DavisConservativeHorshamJohn MilneLiberal DemocratMid SussexAlison BennettLiberal DemocratEast Worthing and ShorehamTom RutlandLabourWorthing WestBeccy CooperLabour
County Council
West Sussex County Council (WSCC) is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county contains 7 district and borough councils (Adur, Arun, Chichester, Crawley, Horsham, Mid Sussex and Worthing), and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils.
West Sussex County Council has 70 councillors. As of the 2026 local elections, there are 23 Liberal Democrat councillors, 23 Reform UK councillors, 11 Conservatives, 7 Green councillors, 5 Labour Party councillors, and 1 Local Alliance councillor. The council is currently run by a Liberal Democrat-led coalition which also includes the Green Party, Labour, and the Local Alliance. The Chief Executive and their team of executive directors are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council.
West Sussex County Council is based at County Hall, Chichester and provides a large range of services including education, social services, fire and rescue, libraries, trading standards, town and country planning, refuse disposal and consumer services.
West Sussex Youth Cabinet The West Sussex Youth Cabinet is a group of local representatives and four UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) representatives, who are elected by young people in West Sussex. The Youth Cabinet represents the views of the young people West Sussex at county level. Elections for the Youth Cabinet and UKYP in West Sussex run every year in March.
Places of interest
Nature and zoos
Chichester Harbour Pagham Harbour – A protected area of wetland that is an important feeding ground for birds. RSPB Pulborough Brooks Selsey Bill South Downs Way – a long distance footpath Stansted Park St Leonard's Forest Tilgate Park Wakehurst Place Warnham Local Nature Reserve, a 92-acre site with visitor centre WWT Arundel (a nature reserve of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust)
Castles, houses and other buildings Arundel Castle Barnham Windmill Bramber Castle Christ's Hospital, an old charitable school notable for its archaic uniforms and picturesque campus Goodwood House and Goodwood Motor Circuit