Goring used to be a separate village parish, but now part of greater Worthing. I would describe the pub as a country pub in a small village.

Thought to date back to around 1770 and called the Bulls Head Inn, the name was changed to the Bull in 1904.

The pub has been used more than once as a temporary mortuary, as the building had particularly thick walls. The small single floor lean-to extension was built in 1888 and may have been used as a butcher's shop for a while.

It was never a true coaching inn, being too far from the main coaching routes. The structure is flint with a rendered face. I suspect the front was extended out.

Pictured right: The funeral of Sidney Orchard & Frederick Wadey leaving the Bull Inn in June 1907.

Both young men, 19 and 22 respectively, had been killed by a bolt of lightning whilst sheltering under a tree near the entrance to Highdown Towers during a storm.

It has been said that the copper coins in one of their pockets had been fused together by the intense heat and shown to the Coroners court held in the pub. Two other men with them survived with minor injuries.

Sidney and Frederick were buried in Goring Churchyard.

While updating this page, I had another look at the Bull using Google Global view and this proved to be revealing.

We're no experts, but looking from above, we can clearly see that the pub itself was an adaptation of the original 1770 building, which we think consisted of two long hall-like structures.

Marked in red on the left, we can see how the later addition extended up and out. Before the change, the headroom within the 'Halls' would have been very low, typical for the period, so to improve its use as a pub/inn, it necessitated a taller, roomier structure.

The southern end bears scars of another structure!

 Time Line

A little extra

1851 - Charles Knight
1855 - Mrs Ann Syers
1866 - Mrs A Syers
1874 - John Higham
1878 - Henry Tulett
1890 - Henry Tulett
1899 - George Potter
19xx - Mr & Mrs Cornford
19xx - John & Mary Thomas
1967 - Roy & Edwina Sanders

From Terry C:"The Bull', now 'The Bullshead'. Around the turn of the 19th/20th Century, it was Mr and Mrs Cornford. The Cornford's daughter, Ethel remained a spinster all her life and ran a small grocery store on Goring Road almost until her death c. 1969.

Before Roy and Edwina Sanders took over 'The Bull' in 1967, John and Mary Thomas ran the pub for many years - I cannot be certain what year they arrived but a few remaining locals will have a better idea, I think it may have been just after the end of the Second World War. I remember them being there."