HISTORY of SUSSEX
Smuggling Days: Page 3
In November, 1768 the Government determined that the audacity of the Hastings
smugglers was getting beyond the borders of human endurance and forthwith
sent four troops of the Inniskilling Dragoons to arrest the men who were
betraying themselves by their boastfulness in every inn in the old fishing
town. The sequence which followed after the arrival of the Dragoons were
as varied and far-reaching as those which follow a bad attack of rheumatic
fever.
The Dragoons rounded up the murderers of Peter Bootes and they were hanged
and left to rot at Execution Dock. But though the smugglers rotted, the
old perverse spirit lived on at Hastings. The bitter feeling towards the
Government flamed for the next fifty years, and in 1821 it burst forth in
open warfare. Thus we may detail the facts of the great riots at Hastings.
Joseph Swain a fisherman (and daring smuggler) objected to the blockade
sentinels who insisted on using " prickers " in order to search
his nets for hidden goods. The prickers were iron spears which pierced through
the meshes of the nets in order to save the blockade men the extra task
of unpacking and opening out the heavy fishing gear. Swain pointed out that
the prickers damaged the nets and declared that he would not allow any "
scurvy land louse " to monkey about with his gear.
England, a blockade man, insisted on pricking his nets and Swain attacked
him with a boat-hook and threw him over the side of the boat on to the hard
shingle. England lost his head and drawing his pistol shot the fisherman
dead where he stood. The freebooter-fishermen of Hastings rose to a man
and dragged England to the nearest net-shed where they prepared a gallows
to hurl him to instant death.
However the ubiquitous dragoons rode out to rescue him and just managed
to save his life. The Lieutenant in charge of the Hastings blockade was,
however, forced to surrender England to the civil authorities, and in his
report to the Admiralty pointed out that parties from Towers 39, 42, 44
and 45, with cavalry from Bexhill, had to be rushed up in order to overawe
the infuriated populace. England, of course, was held for the murder of
Swain. The blockade men in the Hastings Tower who had been besieged by a
yelling blood-thirsty mob for some days, at last made an attempt to cross
a field to their stores and were " assailed with missiles, so furiously,
as to put them in danger of their lives."
One of them being attacked with a sword, fired his pistol over the smuggler's
head to drive him away; an act which led the Hastings' magistrates to demand
him to be given up and lodged in gaol with England. The attitude of the
magistrates was very lukewarm towards the blockade men; indeed, it may be
said that they were almost hostile to any power which opposed smuggling.
Therefore we are not surprised to learn that England was committed for trial
on a charge of wilful murder. He was tried at Horsham on March 28th, 1821,
and was lucky enough to come under the direction of a non-smuggling judge
who, in summing up, pronounced his conduct to be perfectly justifiable,
a comment which in the light of the evidence which came out in court could
not very well be contradicted.
The story of the shooting of Swain was a thing of two dimensions: the
length given by the smugglers and the breadth supplied by the blockade men.
It appears that Swain (in the blockade men's version) snatched at the pistol
and that the discharge was accidental. This account of the shooting of Swain
seems to me to have been the correct one if one is to take into account
the report of Lieutenant Sweeney of the blockade (who was a reliable and
very kindly officer) and a mass of impartial evidence in favour of England,
who after all had carried out his duties for some years with spirited courage
and determination.
In spite of this so stubbornly did the jury cleave to smuggling traditions,
that the judge's direction to acquit England was ignored and they found
him " Guilty of wilful murder." However England was granted a
free pardon shortly afterwards and transferred from the blockade service
to other duties.
The Sussex landmarks of these wild times were gradually being demolished
and here and there their old haunts and relics survive. A curious old cottage
at Slindon Common is looked upon with great affection by the natives as
an old time smugglers' haunt. You may see it near the cross roads; a fine
example of folk architecture exhibiting the prevalent motif of West Sussex
cottage craftsmanship - steep thatch, small dormers, and bluish flint walls.
Any native will point it out to you and tell you its history . . . tell
you how it was once the " Dog and Partridge" inn where Richard
Hawkins in 1749 was whipped to death on suspicion of being concerned in
stealing contraband from a band of Sussex smugglers. You may still see the
deep cellar cut out of the sand stone ; a place far too extensive to pass
as an honest store of ale.
Slindon village was a great place for smugglers, for it was a weird, lonely
place. It has strong associations with the famous writer Hilaire Belloc,
and here at the Grange, where the bosky country rolls down to Bognor, he
spent his childhood and imbibed the ancient magic and charm of West Sussex.
Court Hill Farm and Gaston Cottage, near the Newburgh Arms, are also former
residences of Mr. Belloc's family.
Another smuggling landmark is the Market Cross House at Alfriston ; now
converted into an inn, but once the home of Stanton Collins, chief of the
Alfriston Gang of free-traders. The old house faces the diminutive market-place
and has been a favourite haunt for week-end quarters for some years. Inside
it remains unchanged by the locust years, and you can imagine being put
to bed with a candle, a pewter of ale and much homeliness.
One of the rooms which is often occupied there is connected with a place
of concealment in the roof by a shaft entered by a corner cupboard, and
in the bar parlour there still exists an open chimney containing two secret
recesses which would accommodate either kegs or bales, or human beings,
as the case might be. The Market House is a veritable network of corridors,
which give access to twenty-one rooms, forty-eight doors and six staircases.
The room in which the Alfriston Gang plotted and planned over their smuggling
operations is in the rear of the house, and has five doors, two leading
to the roomy stables and barns where Collins kept his pack-horses and lodged
his smuggled commodities.
The stables still exist in their original state, but it is the bedroom
with the skulking tub holes and curious shaft that conveys so much. One
hopes to return often and sleep in that room, where in the silent watches
you can prowl about communing with the spirits of Stanton Collins and his
desperate hangers-on, and think your way back to the days when the riding
officers and scarlet-clad dragoons clattered into the Market House only
just a fraction of a minute too late to intercept the scurrying smugglers
retreating through a dozen convenient doorways.
Evidences of smuggling may be found at the Bell Inn at Rye, says a writer
in the Sussex County Magazine (August, 1928). The inn stands at the west
end of the High Street on " The Mint," and still held its licence.
Next to it was a shop which in the eighteenth century was connected with
the inn by secret doorways. " In the room at the rear of the shop a
tall recess or cupboard is built into the wall opposite to the ' Old Bell,'
this cupboard being seven feet high and three feet six inches wide, with
two large single-panelled doors.
Years ago this was a revolving cupboard, and one could step into a space
immediately behind a fireplace and through a doorway into the yard. This
doorway is also bricked up. Nothing could be easier for a smuggler wishing
to escape detection than to step into the cupboard, close the doors, swing
the revolving part round, enter and swing it back again and make his way
out into the yard to another street. Also, contraband could be smuggled
into the inn without difficulty."
East Dean, near Birling Gap, was the home of Dipperays, a famous smuggler.
It is said that he lived in the old manor house and there are mysterious
cellars beneath the house, cut deep in the sheer chalk. A note appeared
in the Sussex County Herald on Dipperays some years ago, " Dipperays
is the name of an East Dean man who began life as a smuggler and successfully
continued it. His brand of smuggled gin was well known and valued in certain
London taverns. He gained money and much honour, married into a good family,
died while churchwarden and an elegant marble tablet in East Dean Chancel
testifies to his many virtues. "
Pevensey Parish Church also has its place in the annals of smuggling.
Twopence used to buy the Rev. Hutton's informative little guide to the church
which was more than a contribution to the architecture of the building as
a few quotations will show.
" The Rector's Chancel had been used as a lodge for cattle. It had
also uses less innocent." The Rev. G. D. St. Quinton, who was Curate-in-Charge
of Pevensey in 1826, tells a story (Sus. Arch. Coll., v. 35, p. 80) of one
day entering the disused Chancel and finding a large quantity of contraband
spirits neatly stowed under cover.
A few days afterwards it disappeared as suddenly as it came, and a small
keg of brandy was left on his doorstep, apparently as a thank offering.
There is no doubt that under his easy going predecessors the place had been
regularly used as a smugglers' hold.
Top of Page main
page: www.yeoldesussexpages.com
Smuggling in Sussex
