InWorld War I, Rustington was home to a planned American aerodrome, to the east of the High Street. Intended to launch bombing raids against Germany, the airfield was incomplete when the war ended.[2][3][4][1]
Rustington contains a conservation area which extends from the south end of North Lane to The Lamb in The Street. Here, where trees are protected, are the largest number of pre-1850 listed buildings in the post town, with The Street and surrounding roads containing some of the finest 17th and 18th century Sussex flint cottages in West Sussex, some of which are thatched.
There is a village information centre at the Broadmark Lane car park, housed in the recently renovated WRVS building in the Waitrose car park. It also houses Rustington Museum, exploring the village's history from the Stone Age to the modern day with artefacts from throughout time.
Rustington adjoins the English Channel, and is up to 7 metres (23 ft) above Ordnance Datum. It has three main recreation grounds and neither woodland nor fields.[5]
Rustington shares Angmering railway station with Angmering and East Preston. Trains from this station go to Brighton and Portsmouth/Southampton, as well as regular services to London.
Bus services to Brighton and Portsmouth are provided by the Coastliner 700 with many stops within the village itself.
Paul Pegrum, of Pegrum's bakery (now Forfar's), created the world's biggest hot cross bun to publicise Rustington at Easter 2002. After four hours of cooking, the bun surpassed two out of the three existing records. A weights and measures inspector from Brighton and Hove Council found the bun had smashed the current weight record of 38 kg (84 lb), weighing in at 42.8 kg (94.4 lb). It is also the widest, with a diameter of 4 ft 4 in (132 cm).[6]
Two world air speed records were set over Rustington sea front.
Set on 7 September 1946, by Group Captain Teddy Donaldson, flying a Gloster Meteor Star. Donaldson also became the first man to exceed 1000 km/h.[7]
Set on 7 September 1953, by Squadron Leader Neville Duke, flying Hawker Hunter WB188, at a speed of 1170.9 km/h.
To celebrate, on 7 September 1996, Neville Duke returned to Rustington to unveil a plaque, marking the event, joined by a Gloster Meteor and a Hawker Hunter, which flew over the sea front.
Lindsay Anderson, Indian-born English feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave. He wrote If.... while living in his mother's house on the village's Sea Estate.
J M Barrie, Scottish author and dramatist; a friend of the Llewellyn Davies family who had a house in Rustington and were the inspiration of his book Peter Pan.
Delirious?, English Christian rock and worship band members lived in the village.
Agnes Garrett (who, with her cousin Rhoda Garrett opened the first interior design company in Britain to be run by women) had a house in Rustington. Agnes's sister Millicent Garrett Fawcett (suffragist leader) also lived there after she was widowed. Another sister, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (first woman to qualify as a doctor), also visited.
^Thomas, Nick. RAF Top Gun: Teddy Donaldson CB, DSO, AFC and Bar Battle of Britain Ace and World Air Speed Record Holder, Pen & Sword, 2008. ISBN1-84415-685-0
Media related to Rustington at Wikimedia Commons
