We show how the Lava system is used to design and analyse fast sorting circuits for implementation on Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). We present both recursive and periodic sorting networks, based on recursive merging networks such as Batcher’s bitonic and odd-even mergers. We show how a design style that concentrates on capturing connection patterns gives elegant generic circuit descriptions. This style aids circuit analysis and also gives the user fine control of the final layout on the FPGA. We demonstrate this by analysing andd implementing four sorters on a Xilinx Virtex-II™ FPGA. Performance figures are presented.