that near the south door having a representation of the Crucifixion
carved upon it.

[Illustration: SEAFORD CHURCH.]

Millburgh House was once the property of a noted smuggler named
Whitfield, whose immunity from punishment was obtained by judicious
presents of choice wines in high quarters. Tales of the old smuggling
days would fill many pages, and undoubtedly the profession formed the
major commercial asset not only of Seaford but of more important Sussex
towns both on the coast and on the roads leading to the capital.

Lower has recorded many interesting facts about the long war between
the revenue officers and the natives, relieved at all times by the
unfailing humour of the law-breakers, who took a keen delight in
fooling the exciseman. It was but infrequently that real tragedy took
place; considering the times, and the manner of those times, the
records of Sussex are fairly clean. Such brutal murders as that of
Chater in 1748, which crime was expiated at Chichester, were rare. The
professionals were nearly all men of substance and standing in the
land. The marine smuggler was of course a separate breed whose
adventures and danger were of a different sort and, despite the glamour
of the sea, of much less interest and excitement; on the other hand
most of the inhabitants of such places as Alfriston had one or more of
the male members of the family engaged in the trade, and many are the
houses which still have secret vaults and chambers for the reception of
the goods, chiefly wine, brandy, silk and tea. Most of the churches
between Seaford and Lewes have at one time or another proved convenient
temporary storage places, and on more than one occasion Sunday service
has had to be suspended, on one excuse or another, until the building