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Goring-by-Sea
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Goring Hall Hospital www.bmihealthcare.co.uk |
Goring HallThe hall was built in 1840, by David Lyons after his return from Jamaica. In its latest form it is now a Grade II listed building, and stands in a conservation area. |
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Though the family sugar plantation there had been losing money due to the decline in sugar prices, Parliament paid the Lyons £6 million in compensation when slavery was abolished.
With this in hand David Lyons had no problem in buying the estate in Goring, as well as a substantial house in London. The estate extended from Sea Lane, Goring on the East, to Sea Lane, Ferring on the West, and stretching down to the sea, all surrounded by a six foot flint wall, even along the sea wall. The manor house at that time was at Northbrook, where the college now stands, and this was pulled down when Goring Hall was built. David Lyon is one of the Bowes-Lyon family, of which the Queen Mother is the best known member. There is a stained glass window on the staircase which shows the family coat of arms. The Queen Mother indeed stayed at Goring Hall when a child and walked along the Ilex Avenue. |
 The coat of arms was adopted by the Lyons family in the middle of the nineteenth century. |
 Map dated 1879, showing the house, the Ilex Avenue, and The Bulls Head, now the Bull Inn. |
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As part of the estate, David Lyons planted the holm oaks in Ilex Avenue to form an entrance drive from Worthing, and from Ferring. At that time the Ilex Avenue had magnificent wrought iron gates at each end, but these were removed to become munitions in 1941. At that time the Canadian army camped in the area, and vehicles were parked in the Avenue hidden under the trees. Brick hard-standing for bren gun carriers can still be seen. |
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The main entrance was not using the Avenue, but at the existing lodge gate piers at the end of Goring Street opposite the Bull Inn. The wall on the right has now gone, and has become Fernhurst Drive. Note the ornate bargeboards, the tall chimneys, and the gateposts. Today the lodge looks much but the entrance now only leads to some private houses. |
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| A disastrous fire gutted the main building while the family were at Church on 5th August 1888. Only the stables were not destroyed. Goring Hall was completely rebuilt in only 12 months in exactly the same form. |
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| In 1906 the hall was leased to the Molson Family - the name commemorated in the Molson Garden near St Mary's Church. |
| From the mid 20's Goring Hall building was a school, during which time the water tower was removed when it sprang a leak. The school kept going during the war. The school closed in June 1988 and the building then lay derelict. |
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In 1934 the whole estate except for the immediate house and three acres of gardens were sold to Hesketh Estates of Southport. They had elaborate plans to develop the whole area from the Littlehampton Road to the sea. In the event the area east of the Plantation was being built from 1935, and the bungalows south of the railway down to the Ilex Avenue were built in the 1950s. On 1st August 1935 WBC paid £18,000 for three parcels of land; the greensward along the sea wall from the Sea Lane Cafe to Sea Lane Ferring, the cricket ground behind the Bull Inn, and the Plantation. At the same time, Hesketh made a gift of the Ilex Avenue to WBC for public recreation, these two associated areas are now managed by WBC. The agricultural land between the Littlehampton Road and railway, and south from the Ilex Avenue and the sea is designated a strategic gap and compensation was paid to Hesketh in 1945 in respect of the three roads that had been built. |
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The magnificent fireplace in the entrance hall can still be seen today. There were eleven more huge fireplaces, but these were stolen while the house was disused about 1990. |
| In October 1994 the Hall was opened as a private 52 bed hospital by Princess Margaret, and a plaque in the entrance hall commemorates this day. | 
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 | A new brick nursing block was built to the west and a new entrance to the house was opened from Bodium Avenue. |
The History of Goring Hall continues.
We shall add to these pages as it unfolds.
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Contributed by Richard Waller
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