The surrounding countryside is quite difficult to be inhabited by people who generally live by means of fishing and farming. The fact of the discovery of many Iron Age and Roman wheat grinding wheels made at the local level, suggests that this was an important area for wheat growing in the annals of time.
The Sussex Romans settled long after the invasion in AD 43. Evidence of Roman occupation includes a Roman villa at Angmering consisting of a complex consisting of a main villa, a bath and a group of four additional buildings with an added fifth building in the 3rd century.
With the departure of the Romans, Littlehampton slipped back into the mists of time until it appears in the Domesday Book in 1086 AD as a town Hampton, and belonged to the sister of Edward the Confessor. However, it soon passed to the Lord Roger de Montgomery of Arundel Castle, held for William the Conqueror. It was later by him passed on to the abbey of St. Martin de Seez in France who went on as owner of Littlehampton until the 1400s. It was also around this time that the prefix ‘Little’ Hampton (as now) was added, to distinguish it from its much larger neighbour, Southampton.
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By the 17th century, the town had grown to between 100 and 150 people, but still was mainly an agricultural settlement, with a small ferry port, Smithy and alehouse. In the years between 1801 and 1901, Littlehampton’s population increased in size from 584 to 5,954, and the number population continued to expand in 1911, passing the 8000 mark. Today the population is about 30,000.
In 1853, it officially became a city and adopted the motto Progress. In 1863 the Centre railway terminal building was converted and Littlehampton’s' tourism industry rose from being for the upper and middle classes within its social season to a mass market tourism for the working class tourists and day trippers from London and other major cities.
By the mid-1930s, more than 250,000 tourists visited each year. After 1914, the City continued to grow, but at a slower pace. The new developments came as an amusement park, built by Billy Butlin and this opened in 1933 on the site of the old fort on the east coast. It came as a revival of the city's fate as a seaside holiday destination.
Tourism remained strong all the way until 1960, but then, as foreign holidays became more affordable, the city had a decline in popularity as many other places did at this time. That said, parts of the town still attracts many tourists each day and will continue to do so for a long time.
