Life in any county reflects the advantages and shortcomings of the natural environment, but geographical setting has been particularly important in the history of Sussex. The physical location and geological configurations of the shire have decisively shaped social, political and economic life. Dismissed by Lord Chancellor Cowper in 1690 as “a sink of about fourteen miles broad,” Sussex has long been notorious for its muddy setting. And contemporaries did not hesitate to extend their low judgment to the inhabitants of the county. A report submitted to the Privy Council in 1587 concluded that more justices should be allowed in Sussex than elsewhere because “it borders south on the sea and north on the wild: in which two places commonly the people be given much to rudeness and wilfullness.” A modern haven for retirees and writers, Sussex in the early modern era was famous for the inhospitality of both its highways and its inhabitants.

On the sea side, the border of the county is seventy-six miles of harbors and minor inlets that provided a ready haven for smugglers, wreckers, military invaders, and religious infiltrators. The vulnerability of such a coastline made Sussex a repeated target for the landing of invasions and probably inspired the administrative structure of the shire.