East Sussex Smugglers' Pubs

For 150 years, from the beginning of the eighteenth century, East Sussex wasin the forefront of smuggling due to its pivotal position between the merchantsuppliers of Northern France and London customers eager for untaxed luxuriessuch as brandy, tea and tobacco.The men landing contraband on Sussex beaches had two initial aims. The firstto avoid detection, the second to move the merchandise swiftly inland to halfway hiding places at farms, churches and pubs. Secrecy during these operationswas facilitated by the threat of violence towards would be informers andjudicious bribing of legal authorities encouraging them to turn a blind eye.In many cases the local inn became the smugglers¿ centre of operations whereplots were hatched, arrangements agreed and runs commissioned. The smugglers¿pub served as a meeting place, recruitment centre, distribution depot andvalued customer. This was nowhere more so than in the incomparable smugglingtown of Rye, riddled with linking tunnels and secret storage places.Terry Townsend, who has written extensively on this subject, has identified asignificant number of authentic Smugglers¿ pubs distributed throughout EastSussex. These wonderful old buildings with their low-beamed ceilings, flagstonefloors and inglenook fireplaces evoke a genuine sense of the desperate days offree traders. The events actually occurring during the smuggling heyday providestories every bit as wild as any to be imagined.