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# Worthing # Arun # Chichester # Horsham # Crawley # Mid Sussex # Adur |}
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex (with Brighton and Hove), Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972. Also at this time the Mid Sussex region (including Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and East Grinstead) was transferred from East Sussex.
West Sussex is a diverse county; it is well known for its stately homes and castles such as Arundel Castle and Bramber Castle. Over half of the county is protected countryside, offering popular walking and cycling ground for visitors and residents alike.
Chichester is the county town of West Sussex, and the highest point of the county is Black Down, at 280 metres (919 ft, ).
Most settlements in West Sussex are either along the south coast or in Mid Sussex, near the M23/A23 corridor. The new town of Crawley and coastal settlement Worthing are the largest in the county, with populations of approximately 100,000 inhabitants each. The seaside resort of Bognor Regis and market town 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 towns 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.
Rustington and Southwater are the next largest settlements in the county. There are several more towns in West Sussex, although they are of similar size to other villages. The smaller towns of the county are Arundel, Midhurst, Petworth, and Steyning. The larger villages are Billingshurst, Copthorne, Crawley Down, Cuckfield, Henfield, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint, Lindfield, Pulborough, and Storrington.
Gatwick Airport, which handled over 32 million passengers in 2005, is located to the north of Crawley, and is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom. There is also a considerably smaller local airport at Shoreham and a grass airfield handling light aircraft and helicopters at Goodwood. There are three main railway routes: the Brighton Main Line, the Arun Valley Line and the West Coastway Line.
The following are some of the companies based in West Sussex:
As of the 2010 general election, West Sussex is represented entirely by Conservative MPs, after the only Labour Party seat in the county in 2005, Crawley swung to the Conservatives.
Category:Non-metropolitan counties Category:South East England
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