Smuggling at Robin Hood's Bay

RobinHood's Bay was surely built for smuggling. Possibly some of Robin Hood's men, if smuggling then existed, were engaged in the exciting pasttime of smuggling contraband goods; at any rate, their successors were past masters in the art. Almost every house had some handy recess for the concealment of goods, often hollowed out of the rock itself. On October 6th, 1779, Officers of the Excise seized in the dwelling of one of the innkeepers two hundred casks of brandy and geneva, 150 bags of tea, and a chest full of blunderbuses and cartuch boxes for twenty men. But the band of smugglers forced them to surrender all but twenty casks and ten bags of tea; the commander of the vessel coming to the rescue being none other than the celebrated Dover, who had just before broken into the Custom House at Hartlepool.

Stories are still told of the women stringing bladders filled with spirits under the voluminous petticoats, while others buried kegs of spirits in manure heaps, though the officers knew the trick, and prodded about with iron bars and forks wherever they suspected hidden body .

On one occasion a desperate fight took place in the Bay between a cutter and a lugger. The firing in this fight is said to have been so frequent that the light was bright enough to pick up a pin by. Many were wounded and taken to the Kings Head, but a secret passage enabled all to escape save only an old whaler, whose leg was shot away.

The Fish Road itself was the scene of many an adventure, since excisable articles were generally taken along it. George Harrison was accosted there on one occasion by two men dressed as fishwives, who asked for a ride. The first time the request was made he whipped up the old horse and got away; but the next time the boot was on the other foot. One of the men shot away the poor fellows thumb, robbed him of his money and stole his horse and cart. One old women invented an ingenious means of storing spirits; she used a large teapot, which was filled with sugar and gin. The silk trade was not neglected either , and many a woman travelled along the Fish Road with yards of silk below her coarse outer garments.

The history of Robin Hood's Bay by Robert Jermyn Copper.

OTHER ARTICLES
• The Yorkshire smuggler - the smuggling of contraband
• Smuggling of contraband along the Scarborough coast
• The fishermen and fisheries of Robin Hood's Bay in 1838
• The life of a Riding Officer or preventative in the golden age of smuggling
• Sharks and big fish along the Robin Hood's Bay coast
• A battle with smugglers in Robin Hood's Bay
• Customs Officer during golden age of smuggling in Scarborough
• Scarboroughs Heyday of Inns,smuggling and illicit stills
• The Smuggling of contraband and the coastguard in Flamborough
• The coastline and cliffs of Robin Hood's Bay
• An epic Lifeboat rescue in Robin Hoods bay and a terrible tragedy
• Stories from Robin Hood's Bay and Whitby
• French merchants and smugglers on the Yorkshire coast
• The origin of Robin Hood's Bay - its name
• Robin Hood's Bay - The Storm family website
• Shipbuilding at Scarborough - the wooden barques and schooners
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• Smuggling timeline - Scarborough smugglers
• Runswick Bay superstitions - caves and a landslip

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