Ok, this is doing my head in; What was it about that place? (Maybe it still is?) Only, it appears to have been quite the Mecca, for Gypsys, not so long ago. One of mine has just turned up being born there.
I'm sure I also sped past some mention of an incumbent man of the cloth there, at one time, having a bit of a busy time keeping up with their Baptisms.
Smacks of a Hop Field, or something, to me. Anyone put me out of my misery, please?
What's to know about this place, turn of the century?
Steve the Mystified.
Dear Steve
I have recently been researching my ancestors who came from this part of the world. This seems to have been the area, even then for farming, hops and apple orchards etc. They also seem to have experienced a number of bad harvests at one point and I was interested to read the following:
"Smuggling, or Owling as it was originally termed, developed around the year 1300 in response to the introduction of customs duty on the export of wool, where previously all export and import trading had been free. Although initially the duties were quite small, as the hundred-years war progressed, tax increased, and in 1614 with the introduction of a ban on the export of wool, smuggling really took off. Incidences of smuggling increased dramatically following the end of the Napoleonic wars (1797-1815), and as levies on tea, tobacco and spirits were increased these goods were also smuggled.
As traditional Sussex industries declined, such as fishing, weaving and iron production, men sought other ways of supplementing a meagre income. Tub carriers could earn up to 10/- a night carrying tubs from the beach up to local hiding places, which compared favourably to a labourers weekly salary. However, although smuggling could be highly lucrative it could also be exceptionally dangerous and although it was generally only the gang leaders that were convicted, these men risked their lives and their livelihoods. Sea smugglers faced naval service on a man-of-war and land smugglers risked transportation and possibly even death if convicted.
The Sussex coast was ideally placed as a drop off point for contraband and the beaches of Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne experienced many incidences of smuggling".
Sadly, I discovered no Smugglers amongst my lot
. My family did leave the area as assisted immigrants. I gather owing to the Settlement laws of the time the parish elders did not want
anyone to live in their parish that was likely to become a burden on their finances. People like migrant workers, or unwed mothers (from my research their seems to have been alot of baseborn babies in many of the parishes) or those unlikely to support themselves were not desirable community members. They were allowed assisted passage....out!. This is what my family seems to have done, and they left for Australia. Not as convicts as I first thought, but as one of these many Assisted Immigrants. The family continued to leave for years and years. One year one brother, then another etc.
Anyway perhaps may shed some light :)on this area, perhaps not - clear as mud!
Cheers, Leslie
