The village of Lancing is acknowledged as being of Saxon origin, though there is a history of more ancient times. When much of the coast was still submerged and the mouth of the river Adur was more than a mile wide, it is believed that nomadic Neolithic peoples, having crossed the river at low tide, made their way from the beach to the site of the present Sussex Pad Inn along a trail which today passes Hoe Court cottages and an early settlement was established there around AD400. The path continued to the north of Lancing Ring towards Cissbury Ring before going on to Hampshire and Salisbury Plain.

The town’s best-known landmark is Lancing College, an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls. The magnificent and imposing edifice, founded in 1848, overlooks Shoreham Airport and the River Adur which forms Lancing’s eastern boundary. Across the river to the east lies the historic town of Shoreham, once an important centre of international trade and shipbuilding and home to the Sussex Yacht Club.