ABSTRACT
Sussex is now effectively a home county with impressive links to the rest of the country. It has a significant London commuter population who are in easy reach of the capital by car or rail. There is an international airport, the second largest in the United Kingdom. It contains a substantial city, Brighton, and Hove, the largest seaside resort in England, with a population of some 250,000 people, and the nearest access to the sea for many Londoners, in hot weather, the city almost doubles in size for the day. There was considerable conflict between native and foreign churches, as there was elsewhere in England, in both doctrinal and economic matters. However, after the increased legislation of the 1580s aimed against the missionary priests, a commitment to the continuing observance of Catholicism rendered those among the Sussex Catholic community who harboured the priests guilty of treason.
