BBC History Magazine

The marooned port town treasured by smugglers

he tiny East Sussex town of Rye is a time capsule. It was once one of the Channel’s most important ports, but coastal changes have left it stranded inland, separated from the sea. Its labyrinth of steep cobbled streets, once the haunt of smugglers, are now a picturesque tourist magnet, but the town’s colourful and dramatic past is still

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