Jane Austen's forgotten Sussex seaside retreat

As the world marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth on 16 December, a town in West Sussex has been paying its own tribute to the author who spent time immersing herself in local life.

Arriving in Worthing on 18 September 1805, Austen lodged at Stanford's Cottage on Warwick Street, now the site of a Pizza Express.

Susan Belton from The Worthing Society told Secret Sussex that the author's visit left a cultural impact, inspiring her final, unfinished novel Sanditon.

"The proportions of the building and the setting are the same Jane would have experienced," she said.

Austen stayed at the cottage eight months after the death of her father, with her mother, sister Cassandra and close friend Martha Lloyd.

She visited Worthing for a holiday during a time the town was facing a "glorious upturn", Ms Belton said.

This followed a visit from Princess Amelia in 1798, which she said began the town's evolution into a coastal resort.

Austen immersed herself in local life during her stay, according to The Worthing Society.

They said records showed she won 17 shillings in a raffle, attended services at Broadwater Church and witnessed an affidavit.

During this time, she also met Edward Ogle, a property developer who was transforming Worthing into a fashionable seaside resort.

The society said his plans likely influenced Austen's depiction of entrepreneurial seaside society in Sanditon.

John Head, part of the society's heritage team, said Austen would have a hard job recognising Worthing now, more than 200 years later.

"You have to have a very good imagination to walk around and see the buildings that Jane would've seen," he said.

However, Ms Belton said Austen would have recognised the cottage's exterior.

"It is now white rendered, in her time it would've been finished in the distinctive Worthing creamy-yellow brick," she said.

"Internally it has much changed, although the height of the ceilings, the windows and the mansard roof are the same."

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