The church, first recorded in 1100 was mostly rebuilt and enlarged between 1807 and 1837, but retains romanesque sculpture and a plain eight-sided twelfth century stone font.

[5][6][7] Opposite the church is the historic Horseguards Inn, thought to get its name from the cavalry who stayed there overnight while escorting gold bullion from London to the navy at Portsmouth.

Grittenham (Great Farm Enclosure), once a much larger settlement than today, is first mentioned in the Domesday Book, 1086, as Greteham, with 34 households, and resources including a mill.

Tillington itself was listed in the Domesday Book as in the ancient hundred of Easebourne as having 45 households: 21 villagers, 16 smallholders and 8 slaves; with woodland for pigs, ploughing land, meadows and a mill, it had a value to the lord of the manor of just over £8.

This resulted in a long running legal case against the Earl of Northumberland, owner of Petworth, described by Peter Jerrome in his book Cloakbag and Common Purse.

[6] A sandstone ridge with an elevation of approximately 170 metres (560 ft) runs east to west across the centre of the parish, from Upperton to River.

Ironstone deposits on the lower slopes of the escarpment have been quarried in the pre-industrial era leaving parts of River Common pitted and scarred, now overgrown by naturally regenerated broadleaved woodland.

To the south of the sandstone ridge the land slopes gently down to the River Rother having very fertile free draining soils on greensand which are divided into large fields and mostly used for intensive vegetable production.

The responsibilities include footpaths, the cricket ground and pavilion, tennis courts, children's play equipment and the assessment of planning applications.

In parallel with the district is West Sussex County Council, with responsibility for Education, Libraries, Social Services, Civil Registration, Trading Standards and Transport.