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Goudhurst
Public parking south east of village centre. A delightful Wealden village on a hilltop, the site of the famous battle between the Hawkhurst gang led by Thomas Kingsmill, and the Goudhurst Band of Militia under George Sturt, on April 20th 1747. St Mary's church has a commanding position, and there was a tunnel from the church to the Star and Eagle Inn at the top of the main street. Spyways, another old house with smuggling associations, stands further down the hill.
Aldington
A scattered and unremarkable village above Romney Marsh, but with several points of interest. The Bourne Tap, the house of George Ransley built, and from which he sold spirits, stands beside a minor road at TR 047364, and has now been extended as a private house. He once worked as a carter at Court Lodge Farm (TR 076363). The Walnut Tree Inn in the village centre, was one of a number his gang patronised. Aldington Knoll was their lookout over the marshes (parking on the B2067 at TR 072354).
Dymchurch
Public parking on the A259. The Ship Inn, famous for its associations with smuggling and Russell Thorndike's mythical hero, Dr Syn, has since been enlarged but still has copies of original documents reporting what went on, in the bar. Nearby are the church, rectory and manor house, and New Hall, where the bailiffs met to oversee the drainage problems of the marsh. Dymchurch Wall, the ancient defence against the sea and site of innumerable illicit landings, is best seen at high tide. Martello Tower 24 has now been restored and is open to visitors. It was a Coast Blockade station during the 1820s. Herring Hang was another regular landing place, and was between Dymchurch and Hythe.
Lydd
The church, the Town Hall and the George Inn stand in the High Street (which runs along what was once a shingle bank in the wide Rother estuary). All recall former splendours, and it was at the George in 1720 that Jacob Walter and Thomas Bigg were freed by nine other smugglers in a typical armed attack. In the churchyard are buried the victims of the Battle of Brookland and many other fights, and also Francis Sisley, smuggler and grandfather of the French painter. Lydd was the most notorious of all the marsh centres; it was here in 1829 that the inhabitants cheered as a convoy of eighty men and twelve carts passed through after the last major landing.
Rye and Rye Harbour
Public car parks in Rye. Rye must be explored on foot, and preferably out of season. There are many ancient and fascinating buildings, especially the medieval Landgate, St Mary's church and Ypres Tower. Those with smuggling associations include the Mermaid Inn, frequented by the Hawkhurst gang, and the Flushing Inn in Market Street, with an early 16th century wall painting and cellars which date from before the disastrous French attack of 1377 in which much of Rye was burned. Opposite the Flushing Inn is a bakery where there is still a lift mechanism in the chimney for raising casks to a hiding place in the attic.
Above the quay and warehouses on the west side of the old town, Traders Passage linked the notorious London Trader Inn in Mermaid Street with the delightful Watchbell Street and its lookout. Below the Ypres Tower on the east side of the town are the boatyards and the ferryman's house, a reminder that Rye was still virtually an island in 1700.
Rye Harbour, approached from the A259 just west of the town, also deserves a visit. (Parking by Martello 28 at TQ 942188.) A row of buildings here face onto what was the coastline about 1800. A brooding black structure with a lookout window is the Coast Blockade Watch House (the Victorian coastguard cottages which replaced it stand further back, and have now been superseded by a modern building). A short walk along the edge of Rye Bay Nature Reserve takes one to the present shoreline. This gives a very clear idea of the kind of beach which the smugglers regularly used. Across the Rother mouth (scene of various struggles) the fine sands of the shore at Camber and the sand dunes behind were yet another battle ground. (Those interested will find the nature reserve is a bird watchers' paradise; other local features include the sad remains of Smeaton's short-lived harbour protruding through the shingle at Winchelsea Beach, and the ruins of Henry VIII's Camber Castle.)
Hawkhurst
At first sight there is scant evidence that this was once the headquarters of an infamous gang, but one direct link remains. The Slip Mill (TQ 756314) stands on private property immediately east of Slip Mill Road, half a mile NNW of the central crossroads of Hawkhurst. This lane, linking the A268 and A229, is very narrow and descends steeply to cross a small tributary of the river Rother, but was once the main north to south route through the area. It is possible to pause briefly beside the bridge over the stream and look down the line of the leet which once carried water to the mill building.
The watermill inside is now in a ruinous state, but we know that one of the gang's hiding places was the space immediately behind the wheel, secure from discovery whenever the mill was in operation. This information was supplied by DA Ellis of Sutton in Surrey, whose grandfather took over the running of the Slip Mill from 1918 until his death in 1924. Moreover, and earlier and more distant relative by the name of Russell is reported to have been a member of the gang, killed in a 'shoot out' with Revenue Officers at Hawkhurst.
There are also records of the Ayerst (Ahurst or Ayearst) family who were associated with Hawkhurst and the mill from the late 16th century until 1832. These records show that a William Ayerst leased the Slip Mill in 1686, and his son (also William) bought it in 1713 and operated it until his death in 1737. Ownership then passed to other members of the family at the time when the Hawkhurst Gang were at their most powerful. The Ayersts went on to become prosperous local landowners in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.