Contraband goods, shipped across the English Channel, were smuggled along the packhorse track from Duddleswell to Nutley. In 1721 Gabriel Tomkins, the leader of the Mayfield Gang, was captured and arrested in Nutley having been chased from Burwash. Tomkins was sentenced to seven years transportation, but gained his freedom by giving valuable information to the authorities. He went on to have a mixed career as both smuggler and customs officer, being Custom House Officer at Dartford in Kent in 1735 and Bailiff to the Sheriff of Sussex, but was hanged in 1750 at Bedford for robbing the Chester stage coach.