East Sussex Smugglers' Pubs

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