Ferry Cottage at the Fishmarket
Until 1893 it was the base for the ferry to E. Guldeford and to Kent.

In the 1670's it is estimated that 200,000 packs of wool were exportedfrom Rye to Calais alone each year. Riding officers and later dragoons tried to control it, but by the 18th century, gangs ran the trade, using the inns in Rye as bases. The notorious “Murder ” of Alan Grebell, Mayor of Rye, by one John Breeds was possibly a smuggling-related crime, but whatever the reason, that killing resulted in Breeds being hung in chains and swinging on Gibbet's Marsh for many years.

A blockade of the port in 1817 and the later establishment of the coastguard began the final end of smuggling. However, there was a fight at Camber in 1832 between 200 smugglers and coastguards in which a boat with 26 casks of spirits was seized and several men shot and wounded.

Then Society began to change, and the abolition of duties as part of the policy of Free Trade, further helped the decline A long coastline, however, is always difficult to patrol and, in more recent times, drugs and illegal immigrants have been smuggled in.

Rye was a cross-channel port, especially to Boulogne and Dieppe, and was the main postal route from London-Rye-Dieppe-Paris and beyond for centuries. It was also a trans-shipment point for imported
goods to be put into river barges to be taken up the Brede, Tillingham and Rother - for delivery inland. These barges, used until the 1930’s had not changed from the Middle Ages. Manned by a skipper and a
mate, they were 50 feet long and carried 20 tons of cargo-usually coal, shingle and timber. The cargoes were loaded and unloaded in large wheelbarrows that held 4 cwt., which were pushed across planks between barge and bank. ( there is a model in the Museum of such a barge )

“Boulder boats” were loaded with coastal shingle, which was then transferred by men carrying the blue boulders in baskets suspended from yokes, to the railway wagons, and then to be sent to the Potteries.

There were ferries across the Tillingham on Ferry Road for traffic to go to Hastings via Udimore, and across the Rother, as part of the route to the Marsh. This lasted until 1893, when Monkbretton Bridge was built. The ferryman’s cottage is still there. The Rye Harbour ferry, with the Cutting family being ferrymen for many years, ran until just after the last war, when people were expected to “go round” via Rye, to the Camber side of the river.