The Olde Bell inn, also known as Ye Olde Bell, is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

historical inn in

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederatio ...

. It was built in 1390. It has a turbulent history and was once used for smuggling, connected by a secret tunnel with the nearby Mermaid Inn to the south. It was used by the infamous

Hawkhurst Gang The Hawkhurst Gang was a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout southeast England from 1735 until 1749. One of the more infamous gangs of the early 18th century, they extended their influence from Hawkhurst, their base i ...

in the 1730s and 1740s who moved goods along the tunnel from the Mermaid to a revolving cupboard in the Old Bell for a quick getaway. The inn has two separate bar areas with original oak beams and a terrace with an 80-year-old

Wysteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north o ...

tree.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Bell Inn, the Buildings and structures completed in 1390 Rye, East Sussex Grade II listed pubs in East Sussex Pubs in East Sussex