Double / Twin

Your Room is named after May Adlington and her son Richard. In 1913 Mrs Adlington ran the Mermaid as a club and many famous artists and literary personalities visited. Including Henry James, Rupert Brooke, E.F Benson, Dame Ellen Terry and Lord Alfred Douglas (Oscar Wilde’s Bosey). By coincidence the ‘Aldington Gang’ was in league with…

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Your Room is named after G.S. Bagley the Last ‘Freeman of the Borough of Rye’ and the Mayor of Rye 1956-1958. A quite extraordinary person who has an author and artist documented Rye’s history, painted The Mermaid Inn and founded the Rye Castle Museum, which features the Hawkhurst Gang. – A Double Bed  – Antique…

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Your Room is named after Roy and Ella Bishop, residents of Rye, who celebrated their wedding reception at the Mermaid and who are regular guests at the Inn. – A Double Bed   – Antique furniture – Beamed ceiling – Wattle and daub walls  – Latticed windows Welcome to the unique Mermaid Inn, rich in history…

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Your Room is named after John Cobby ‘an illiterate son of a Sussex labourer’. One of the’ Hawkhurst Gang’ of smugglers responsible for the murder of Excisemen in 1748 after the raid on Poole Custom House. Hanged at Selsey in 1749 for his part in the raid. – A Double Bed  – Antique furniture  –…

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Your room is named after ‘Perrin’, originally a carpenter, he became a Smuggler and organiser of smuggling voyages from the cutter ‘Three brothers’ used by The Hawkhurst Gang. The usual cargo was Brandy, Rum and Tea. Tried at Newgate Prison for being a Hawkhurst gang member, he was Hanged at Tyburn, London. – A Double…

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Your Room is named after a member of the ‘Hawkhurst gang’. A native of Hawkhurst who on a tea smuggling trip to Guernsey in September 1747 had their booty seized. The seized contents were held in the Poole Custom House, holding about 30 hundred weight of tea, thirty-nine casks of brandy and rum, and a…

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Your Room is named after a smuggler, a member of the ‘Hawkhurst Gang’. He was tried at Newgate Prison, London in August 1749, and was acquitted after ‘exhibiting penitence’ – A Double Bed  – Antique furniture  – Beamed ceiling – Wattle and daub walls  – Latticed windows Welcome to the unique Mermaid Inn, rich in…

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Your Room is named after Gabriel Tompkins bailiff of the sheriff of Sussex in the 1730s. He was kidnapped by smugglers from The Hawkhurst Gang, from the Mermaid Inn in February 1735. A colourful character who had been a smuggler, then converted to be a member of the Customs Service. Finally he returned to criminality…

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Your Room is named after William Bird. Landlord 1716-1724, ‘an honest man and owner of fishing boats’. It was around this time that The Mermaid Inn had a strong connection with the notorious Hawkhurst Gang which used the premises during the 1730s and 1740s. This large group of smugglers controlled territory from Kent to Dorset…

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Your Room is named after a brutal murderer and prominent member of the ‘Hawkhurst Gang’. Fairall was present at the raid on the Poole Custom House in 1747, when the Hawkhurst Gang retrieved their contraband that had been seized by the Customs men. He was hanged at Horsenden Green in 1749 aged 25. – A…

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Your Room is named after George Gray, butcher by trade in 1747. He was the leader, possibly founder of the infamous ‘Hawkhurst Gang’. The Gang were Smugglers or ‘Owlers’, the local name for those on Romney Marsh and the area who traded in goods such as tea, brandy, lace and wool. He owned vaults and…

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Your Room is named after Robert Moreton, ‘A labourer of Sussex’. Leader of The Groombridge gang who in 1737 led an attack on Customs men at Bulverhythe, Hastings. He also assaulted Customs officers at Shoreham, Kent on 18th December 1744. Although the leader of the Groombridge Gang, Mr. Moreton also rode with the Hawkhurst Gang…

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The Room is named after Frank Palmer, the 700th mayor of Rye. 1988-1990, who escaped the fate of a predecessor Allen Grebell, the Deputy Mayor, in St Mary’s churchyard in 1742, who was murdered by local butcher John Breeds. He lay in wait at night in Rye churchyard, armed with a knife, but his real…

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Your Room is named after General Sir John Cope who commanded the 7th Dragoons (known as ‘Copes Dragoons’) from 1741 to 1760. He was posted to Romney Marsh, although heavily equipped and out numbering their quarry, they were no match for armed smugglers nor for the soft ground of the Marshes. All kinds of goods…

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Your Room is named after Thomas Moore. A Smuggler released from arrest in 1735 by Thomas Bean landlord of the Mermaid Inn, in collusion with the ‘Hawkhurst Gang’ when they kidnapped the Bailiff of Sussex at the Inn – A Double Bed – Antique furniture – Beamed ceiling – Wattle and daub walls – Latticed…

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