diff --git a/app/controllers/solr_search_controller.rb b/app/controllers/solr_search_controller.rb
index ac354d89..a3179fa8 100644
--- a/app/controllers/solr_search_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/solr_search_controller.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 class SolrSearchController < ApplicationController
   before_action :search_for_dataset, only: [:search]
 
-  def search; end
+  def search
+    @sort = params["sort"]
+  end
 
 private
 
diff --git a/app/services/search/solr.rb b/app/services/search/solr.rb
index 503714a8..73691956 100644
--- a/app/services/search/solr.rb
+++ b/app/services/search/solr.rb
@@ -3,17 +3,21 @@ class Solr
     def self.search(params)
       query_param = params.fetch("q", "").squish
       page = params["page"]
+      sort_param = params["sort"]
       page && page.to_i.positive? ? page.to_i : 1
 
       solr_client = client
 
       query = "*:*" if query_param.empty?
 
+      sort_query = "metadata_modified desc" if sort_param == "recent"
+
       solr_client.get "select", params: {
         q: query,
         start: page,
         rows: 20,
         fl: field_list,
+        sort: sort_query,
       }
     end
 
diff --git a/app/views/solr_search/search.html.erb b/app/views/solr_search/search.html.erb
index 9f6f33eb..2e242a66 100644
--- a/app/views/solr_search/search.html.erb
+++ b/app/views/solr_search/search.html.erb
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
       <div class="govuk-grid-row dgu-filters">
         <div class="govuk-grid-column-two-thirds dgu-results">
+          <%= render '/search/sort' if @num_results > 1 %>
           <span class="dgu-results__summary">
             <span class="govuk-body-s govuk-!-font-weight-bold"><%= number_with_delimiter(@num_results) %></span>
             <%= t('.result').pluralize(@num_results) %> <%= t('.found') %>
diff --git a/spec/features/solr_search_page_spec.rb b/spec/features/solr_search_page_spec.rb
index 3ced8d1f..b6386a39 100644
--- a/spec/features/solr_search_page_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/features/solr_search_page_spec.rb
@@ -3,43 +3,66 @@
 RSpec.describe "Solr Search page", type: :feature do
   let(:results) { File.read(Rails.root.join("spec/fixtures/solr_response.json").to_s) }
 
-  before do
-    allow(Search::Solr).to receive(:search).and_return(JSON.parse(results))
-  end
+  describe "Default search page behaviour" do
+    before do
+      allow(Search::Solr).to receive(:search).and_return(JSON.parse(results))
+    end
 
-  scenario "Displays search heading" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    expect(page).to have_css("h1", text: "Search results")
-  end
+    scenario "Displays search heading" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_css("h1", text: "Search results")
+    end
 
-  scenario "Displays search box" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    expect(page).to have_content("Search data.gov.uk")
-  end
+    scenario "Displays search box" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_content("Search data.gov.uk")
+    end
 
-  scenario "Displays search results" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    expect(page).to have_content("2 results found")
-  end
+    scenario "Displays search results" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_content("2 results found")
+    end
 
-  scenario "Displays the title for each search result" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    expect(page).to have_css("h2", text: "A very interesting dataset")
-    expect(page).to have_css("h2", text: "A dataset with additional inspire metadata")
-  end
+    scenario "Displays the title for each search result" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_css("h2", text: "A very interesting dataset")
+      expect(page).to have_css("h2", text: "A dataset with additional inspire metadata")
+    end
 
-  scenario "Displays the publisher for each search result" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    results = all(".published_by")
-    expect(results.length).to be(2)
-    expect(results[0]).to have_content "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"
-    expect(results[1]).to have_content "Mole Valley District Council"
+    scenario "Displays the publisher for each search result" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      results = all(".published_by")
+      expect(results.length).to be(2)
+      expect(results[0]).to have_content "Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government"
+      expect(results[1]).to have_content "Mole Valley District Council"
+    end
+
+    scenario "Displays the last updated for each search result" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_content("Last updated", count: 2)
+      expect(page).to have_content("30 June 2017")
+      expect(page).to have_content("17 August 2018")
+    end
+
+    scenario "Results are sorted by best match" do
+      visit "/search/solr"
+      expect(page).to have_select("sort", selected: "Best match")
+    end
   end
 
-  scenario "Displays the last updated for each search result" do
-    visit "/search/solr"
-    expect(page).to have_content("Last updated", count: 2)
-    expect(page).to have_content("30 June 2017")
-    expect(page).to have_content("17 August 2018")
+  describe "When a user filters the results" do
+    before do
+      allow(Search::Solr).to receive(:search).and_return(JSON.parse(results))
+    end
+
+    scenario "Results are sorted by best match" do
+      filtered_solr_search_for("Best match")
+      expect(page).to have_select("sort", selected: "Best match")
+    end
+
+    scenario "Results are sorted by most recent" do
+      filtered_solr_search_for("Most recent")
+      expect(page).to have_select("sort", selected: "Most recent")
+    end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/support/solr_dataset_helper.rb b/spec/support/solr_dataset_helper.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..20359055
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/support/solr_dataset_helper.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+def filtered_solr_search_for(sort_method)
+  visit "/search/solr"
+  within "#main-content" do
+    select sort_method, from: "Sort by"
+    find(".gem-c-search__submit").click
+  end
+end