It was designed by T. H. Myres, was built in a grand way by its owners the London Brighton and South Coast Railway, which included four platforms, with a subway linking them and the 'Country House' style station building, buffets, long sidings for awaiting trains, a large goods shed for dealing with freight, and two signal boxes to control the station.

The main reason for this large building was to deal with visitors to the Goodwood Racecourse, but passengers preferred to use Chichester Station mostly due to the walk uphill to the course from Singleton.

It was one of the most visited stations by the LBSCR royal train as the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) used to 'weekend' with the James family at West Dean House.

[2] Freight services remained until these were withdrawn on 28 August 1953 by British Railways.

Historic England listed the former goods shed at Grade II in April 2013.