The Ship Inn, 21 Beach Road, Mundesley, Norfolk NR11 8BQ Tel:  01263 722 671 E-mail:  info@mundesleyship.co.uk Map Back to Old Mundesley Smugglers and Mundesley The beach near Mundesley was used by medieval ‘owlers’ to ship wool overseas. One of the earliest known Norfolk owlers was William Warner of Knapton. Warner was described as a common malefactor, who would help anyone to carry away the Kings Custom overseas. In 1354 he was found guilty on three counts of selling wool to foreigners on the seashore between Mundesley and Bacton. These foreigners had intended to load the wool onto their ship, take it overseas and avoid paying customs duties. However, on the last occasion, after the foreigners had bought a cartload of wool from William, a storm prevented them from loading the wool aboard their ship. William took the wool to a chapel at Paston where it was seized by customs officers, who received 10%of the value of the wool from the King. William was fortunate because his plight was brought to the attention of Queen Isabella the Kings mother, who was in residence near Kings Lynn (actually named  Bishops Lynn until 1537) at Castle Rising, and at her request William was pardoned! In 1718 Parliament passed the ‘Hovering Act’. This was an attempt to stop vessel of less than 50 tons or carrying more than four oars hovering off the coast for smuggling purposes. If found within two leagues (about six miles) off the coast without reasonable cause the vessel could be seized and cut into three parts. This all came about because at this time the bulk of contraband was coming into England virtually unchallenged. English ships would meet French ships hovering close to the coast, purchase and bring the contraband to the beaches at Mundesley, Hunstanton and Heacham. At Cromer, vessels up to 100tons could lie on the beach where, when the tide was going out carts were drawn alongside to unload the contraband. This could easily be concealed in the carts and carried inland. In January 1743 several ships witnessed a battle off the coast at Mundesley between the Yarmouth Customs House boat (a ‘smack’) and a smuggling boat. Although smaller than the smuggling boat the Customs House boat got in close and fired three guns. The smuggler replied with 9 guns! This badly damaged the Customs House rigging and sails thereby forcing her to retreat. The smugglers were then audacious enough to shout over to the Customs House boat saying that they were all English and would like to drink a bowl of punch with him! Smuggling could be very profitable at this time. In the 1730’s legal tea sold in the shops at 5 shillings per pound. Of this, the duty paid was 4 shillings. However, tea from the East Indies could be bought in Holland for about 6d (half a shilling) per pound. This illegal tea was sold by the smugglers for about 3 shillings per pound. Gin was also popular with smugglers. It was known as ‘Geneva’ or ‘Hollands’ and came from Holland. It was distilled from grain and flavoured with juniper berries. This spirit was in great demand among the working classes and could be bought quite cheaply. In London there were 10,000 gin shops. Some would offer an ‘all inclusive / drink as much as you like deal’! A sign would say ‘Drunk for 1d, Dead Drunk for 2d, Straw for nothing’. The straw was supplied for the customer to sleep off the effects of the gin! Gin was thought to be the reason the death rate exceeded the birth rate and in 1728 the government decided to put a large tax on the gin to check its consumption. Retailers of the gin had to pay a licence fee of £20, increasing to £50 in 1736. Duty on the gin was 2 shillings per gallon, increasing to £1 per gallon. This made gin smuggling a very profitable trade! In 1780 the government claimed that nearly 4 million gallons of geneva and 6 million lbs of tea were being smuggled into England. By 1783 the illegal tea trade was worth about £7 million per annum and more than half of the tea consumed was illegal. The government wiped out the tea smuggling overnight by reducing the tax on tea from 120% to 12 ½ %. Smugglers turned to tobacco smuggling in 1784 to recoup their losses! In December 1776 eight smugglers and a large quantity of Geneva and brandy were captured at Northrepps, but the smugglers escaped. On Saturday 24th April 1779 at about 9.00 in the evening, the customs officer at Mundesley, with eight assistants went to Bacton beach, where a boat was on the beach with it’s crew burying a large quantity of smuggled goods in the sand. The smugglers were still working when they were discovered and 65 ‘half-ankers’ of brandy and some tea were seized. However, before a wagon could be found to carry the contraband away, two smugglers on horseback rescued 7 bags of tea and called for assistance from their colleagues in a lugger anchored offshore. The lugger immediately opened fire, while a dozen or more of her crew armed with blunderbusses and pistols jumped into a row boat and headed for shore. When the boat reached the beach, her crew leapt out, drew their knives and threatened to rip the custom’s officer’s ‘belly open’ which surely would have happened if one of the smugglers on horseback hadn’t intervened! The smugglers then loaded the contraband back onto the boat, except for 21 casks of Geneva and 3 bags of tea. In March 1782 Overstrand beach was the scene of a battle between smugglers and customs officers. Eventually 33 ‘½ ankers’ of Geneva were seized and taken to the Excise office at Holt.  In 1785 an article in the Norwich Mercury referred to the number of small private houses in Mundesley, Cromer and Sheringham that sold spiritous liquors in open defiance of the laws and were ‘a refuge for idle and dissipated wretches who assemble on the Sabbath day but were constant harbours of poachers and smugglers’………..nothing changed there then!!!! The ‘Preventative Waterguard’ was established in 1809 to operate in coastal waters searching for smugglers that may have slipped past the naval and revenue vessels further out at sea. ‘Landguards’ were employed to collect intelligence in the coastal villages about smuggling activities and to intercept contraband that had made it onto land. Intelligence was passed on to their colleagues afloat. On October 16th 1811 a Preventative boat stationed in Mundesley seized an open smuggling vessel near the shore, carrying 250 casks of Geneva and 100 casks of brandy. They took the smugglers vessel into Blakeney harbour and the spirits were placed in the customs warehouse at Cley. Smuggling continued to be rife and a report from December 1816 states that the Mundesley preventative boat chased and captured an open smuggling boat laden with 415 ‘half-ankers’ of brandy and Geneva. The smugglers (four Englishmen and three Dutchmen) were taken prisoner. The Dutchmen were later released.    In 1829 the ‘Preventative’  men caught up with some smugglers in Shucks Lane at Overstrand. Some smugglers surrendered after two of their colleagues were shot dead. One of the smugglers organisers managed to escape. He was Ted Summers the local blacksmith. He went into hiding for several weeks and avoided capture. Using horse and carts contraband was quickly transported into inland hiding places until it was safe to move it further inland. One hiding place was St. Mary’s church  at Northrepps. Ropes and pulleys were used to get the contraband up to the tower! Opening Hours