Hove in the Past: Smugglers

Judy Middleton 2003 (revised 2023)

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Part of the Crew of the Revenue Cutter Hound on the Beach at Hove by Edward Fox Snr c1810

‘SMUGGLER’ – A wretch who, in defiance of the laws, imports or exports goods without payment of customs – Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Smuggling was a lucrative trade for some inhabitants of old Hove. It is not surprising when you consider Arthur Young’s comment in 1813 that a night spent smuggling could earn a man seven shillings, whereas an ordinary labourer could only expect to take home each week from sixteen pennies to eighteen pennies, which did not even amount to two shillings. Quite often the two occupations were combined with men working on farms during the summer, and smuggling on dark, winter nights.

Smuggling was a two-way traffic with English wool being smuggled out, and wine, spirits, tobacco and tea being smuggled in. This export of wool was known by the curious name of ‘owling’ and there were of course efforts to stamp it out. One measure was that shepherds were supposed to inform the Customs of the time and place when sheep shearing would take place.

The Owlers (wool smugglers),
illustration by Paul Hardy
from The Smugglers (1909) by Charles C. Harper

John Wesley, on a preaching tour of Sussex, wrote in December 1773, ‘They will not part with the accursed thing, smuggling.’ In 1787 William Pitt, speaking in the House of Commons, made the astonishing claim that out of 600,000 gallons of brandy imported into this country, at least 400,000 gallons had been smuggled in with the subsequent loss of tax revenue.

The 18^th Century

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Copperas Gap by W.H. Stothard Scott (1783-1850)
The Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported on the 1 February 1773 that there was a skirmish at Copperas Gap, Portslade, one smuggler was shot dead by a Customs Officer.

In the autumn of 1779 some escaped French prisoners of war made their way to Hove beach and stole a small boat used for lobster fishing. They then sailed towards a Brighton boat out herring fishing with a two-men crew. The unfortunate fishermen were kidnapped by the French and taken to France. It was the intrepid smugglers who brought back word that the Englishmen were alive and well in France, and could be released for a sum of money if their friends were interested. Strangely enough, the stolen Hove boat later turned up in home waters with a tied-up French handkerchief containing turnips.

The Sussex Weekly Advertiser (10 April 1780) carried the following story;

‘On Friday evening some of the men belonging to the Shoreham Customs House cutter fell in with a small party of smugglers laden near Hove, and on finding them unwilling to deliver their goods fired upon them and shot one horse dead upon the spot and wounded another, upon which the smugglers delivered up their goods.’

On the 15 April 1782 The Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported a large contraband siezure by Shoreham Customs Officers at Portslade.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove
An early 1800s painting of the coastline of Portslade with a distant view of Shoreham Harbour, a landscape ideal for smuggling activities, the windmills on the right are in Copperas Gap, Portslade. Painting attributed to Frederick Ford

Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported on 8 November 1784 of a smuggling cutter landing her whole cargo on the East Groyne, Brighton, and nearly 200 horses were seen taking the contraband away. (This incredible report suggests that the smugglers had significant support from the local population, for nearly 200 horses to be assembled on Brighton beach without the revenue men being aware of this illegal activity while it was in progress).

There was a particularly bloody encounter on 7 June 1787. Philip Jenden, Excise Officer at Horsham, together with three men surprised a large body of smugglers (around 150 it was claimed) all mounted and laden on the beach near Hove. Although heavily outnumbered, and without a word, Jenden charged forward, slashing his sword about. When some badly wounded smugglers shouted ‘Murder’ the rest of them beat a hurried retreat, leaving behind them twelve horses and 167 casks of spirits.

The Sussex Weekly Advertiser (11 June 1787) described the injuries. ‘Three of the smugglers dangerously wounded, two of them received large cuts on their heads. The wound on the back part of one of their skulls, given cross-ways, was measured and proved to be six inches long. A third, we are informed, had a portion of his skull over the eye and one of his cheeks entirely cut off.’ The revenue men also discharged their pistols, but as they fired over smugglers’ heads, nobody was hurt.

One of the smugglers, Henry Bonner of Preston, died, and the fearless Philip Jenden was charged and convicted of murder. He was due to hang at Horsham in August 1787, but fortunately the king sent him a free pardon. Meanwhile, some Brighton inhabitants decided to set up a fund to support Bonner’s widow and four small children. T. Kemp M. P. led the way with two guineas, and Nathaniel Kemp and Mr Smithers donated a guinea each.

In April 1789 revenue officers seized 130 casks of spirits on the beach near Hove. In February 1791 William Curtis, lately employed as a labourer, was suspected of smuggling in Hampshire and a reward of £150 was offered for information leading to his arrest.

Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported on the 10 November 1794 of the death of Thomas Tippin of the Sussex Militia after he discovered a small tub of gin on Hove beach.

The gravestone of Daniel Scales, which is now almost illegible, is situated in the north side churchyard of All Saints Church, Patcham, Brighton. Daniel Scales was shot dead by Shoreham Customs Officer Leach, while trying evade capture while carrying contraband.

Before the establishment of coastguards, a few riding officers attempted to combat smuggling along the coast. In tax returns for 1792-1795 it was recorded that Thomas Langridge, a riding officer, lived at Portslade, and several of his children were baptised at St Nicolas Church, Portslade.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
Brighton's West Battery c.1827,
Sussex Weekly Advertiser reported on 14 November 1796 of a British warship, whilst engaging with a smuggling cutter off Brighton, discharged a cannon which landed in front of the West Battery. The Battery thinking her an enemy vessel, returned fire. In the distance is Hove beach.

The 19^th Century

On 10 October 1819 some Customs officers spotted a suspected smuggling vessel off Hove, and gave chase in a galley with two of the crew from the Hound revenue cutter. In the suspected vessel they found 225 tubs of gin, 52 kegs of brandy, and one keg of shag tobacco. While the revenue men were thus engaged, nine of the quick-thinking smugglers climbed overboard and rowed ashore in the captain’s galley.

Drawing by Paul Hardy (1909)
Smugglers in their Sussex smocks were called - 'Batmen'
because they carried staves or cudgels as weapons,
which were the same size as 'cricket bats'

But after landing safely opposite Hove Street, two of the smugglers were captured. This was not the end of the affair because the remaining smugglers ran through the village shouting and raising the alarm. Soon a large body of smugglers descended on Hove beach and rescued the captives, hitting the unfortunate revenue men with large sticks and stones. A reward of £200 was offered for information but a cloak of silence descended, and nothing more was heard about the affair.

On 20 October 1827 a smugglers’ barque landed 50 kegs of Hollands on Hove beach opposite Brunswick Terrace. There was a fierce fight, and several members of the coast blockade were injured. It was also supposed that two or three of the smugglers were either badly wounded or killed.

On 5 August 1834 James Holden, James Holden, junior, and John Mills were captured aboard a smuggling lugger by the Revenue cutter Repulse off Hove. It did not take long for justice to be meted out, and on 13 August 1834, the threesome were sentenced to six months’ hard labour.

In 1835 the coastguard prevented goods being landed near Hove turnpike gate where around 30 to 40 men were assembled ready to carry off the goods. Instead the tubs were landed on the Chain Pier.

copyright © Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove
The above article from the Brighton Herald for 6 July 1850 refers to the coastline between Brighton and Shoreham

An Amusing Anecdote

The author W. Victor Cook related a well-know yarn about Hove and the smugglers in his book The Story of Sussex. It dates back to the time when Hove and Preston were one parish because the population was so sparse, that they shared one clergyman. Thus there was only the occasional service in St Andrew’s Old Church, Hove.

“The story goes that one Hove Sunday the vicar in full canonicals went to the church to do his office. To his surprise, the bell was not ringing, and on his enquiring the reason from the sexton, that artist calmly informed him that he made a mistake, and that it was Preston Sunday. The vicar stuck to it that he was right, and the sexton as stoutly maintained that he was wrong. The vicar would not admit that he was in error, and ordered the bell to be rung for service. ‘It’s no use, sir’ said the sexton at last. ‘You can’t preach today.’ ‘Why not?’ demanded the angry parson, ‘Because the church is full of tubs and the pulpit’s full of tea.’ ”

Other Hiding Places

There were other places for hiding contraband too. There was an old malt-house on the corner of the road leading to the sea at Hove, and the trick was to conceal the tubs under a thin layer of malt. When the time was right, the tubs moved up to the smugglers’ cave at the junction of what is today the Old Shoreham Road and Sackville Road. This cave was situated in an old chalk pit, and there was a cleverly disguised entrance to a double cave – the inner cave was reached by a passage from the outer cave. The caves remained until the 1890s.

According to Tom Hicks, who was told the story by Mr Lister, Hove’s one-time Chief Librarian, the caves were re-discovered quite by accident. The entrance was well concealed under a mass of ivy, elder, nettles and blackberry bushes. A man kept his hens in the chalk quarry, and he became puzzled when as they scratched about, some would disappear and then re-appear. An investigation revealed the existence of the smugglers’ caves.

Hove Street

A long lost view of Hove Street, which has changed beyond all recognition in the last 100 years, the distant building with the apex roof on the corner of the road is the old malt house.

According to Thurston Hopkins of Vale Road, Portslade, boats were secretly built in many a barn in Hove Street, and in 1928 you could still see some of the old workshops and tackle sheds there.

The Ship Inn was a favourite meeting place for smugglers from both Hove and Brighton. All Hove people understood the meaning of the smugglers’ proverb ’Moonshine under the hearth; moonshine under the horse’s belly’, referring to other places where smuggled spirits were hidden.

A Dead Smuggler?

At the beginning of June 1930 some workmen employed by Hove Corporation were digging shingle when they discovered a human skeleton. The exact position was 33-ft south of the revetment wall of the Kingsway and opposite 3 St Aubyn’s Gardens – the site later occupied by the King Alfred. The shingle was covered by 6-in of earth and grass, but the shingle was around 7-ft deep at this point. The skeleton was was 3-ft below the top of the shingle.

Mr E. Cecil Curwen thought that the male skeleton was likely to have belonged to a man killed by the Excise men, and buried where he fell. If he had been a drowned sailor, he would surely have been buried in consecrated ground. Mr Curwen described the man as having been aged around 30 and was 5-ft 4 ½ in tall with short forearms; he had excellent teeth.

The Crab House

There used to be a small house on the north bank of the canal at Southwick called the Crab House, almost opposite where The Gardens, Southwick, is today, and local tradition held that a smugglers’ tunnel started from there.

Old-time Portslade residents have told me that the entrance to the tunnel was actually in the bank, and local children knew all about it. However, the children were prevented from exploring it because if the occupant of the Crab House spotted them, he would chase them away.

Secret Passages

The ruins of St Leonards, Aldrington, were a favourite haunt of local smugglers, the church was situated in a wide open landscape with views of the sea. In 1814 the official figure for the population of Aldrington was ‘one’, a male who lived one mile from the ruins, the church was rebuilt in the late 1870s.

A fascinating story appeared in the Sussex Daily News 6 December 1906). It was a short paragraph describing a meeting of the Brighton & Hove Archaeological Club. A committee member stated that he knew of ‘at least two places in the present churchyard leading into long disused smugglers’ caves.’ The churchyard in question belonged to St Leonard’s Church, Aldrington.

In 1940 Mr Edwards, road sweeper, was busy at work on the coast road at Portslade / Southwick, when there was a rumbling noise and he fell through the surface into an underground tunnel. There was some attempt at exploration, but there were pockets of gas present, and it was deemed too dangerous to continue – besides there was a war on. However, it is interesting to note that later on men of the Canadian Army established a post there. As for Mr Edwards, he was killed during the war in a bombing raid while he was chopping wood in Stanley’s yard.

In 1975, during excavation work connected with a new road surface at the east end of High Street, Portslade, an underground passage was discovered leading from the ancient house Kemps.

copyright © G. Osborne
The Halfway House appears in the centre of this Edwardian photograph, at the south end of Station Road, Portslade.

In August 1998 a 20-ft hole suddenly appeared outside the Halfway House in Station Road. The hole was 5-ft in circumference and a council spokesman said ‘Our highways people think it could be an old smugglers’ tunnel because it leads to something of a chamber.’ Southern Water stated that it was not in any of their records. Andy Burns, publican of the Halfway House said he had taken a look himself, and it looked like there were three tunnels leading off at the bottom. It is possible that there may have been a connection with the old Crown Pub that was situated south of the coast road at Copperas Gap, and an underground passage was believed to start there.

Rudyard Kipling lived 5 miles from Hove in Rottingdean, from 1897 until 1902, Kipling was well versed in local history, and his poem, A Smuggler’s Song paints a vivid picture of the illegal activities of the 18^th and 19^th centuries along the Sussex coastline.

Watch the wall my darling, while the gentleman go by !
illustration by Paul Hardy from The Smugglers (1909) by Charles C. Harper

An extract from A Smuggler's Song :-

If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse’s feet,
Don’t go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn’t told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark –
Brandy for the Parson, ‘Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!

Sources

Cooper, William Durrant (1812-1875), The Genuine history of the inhuman and unparalleled murders of Mr. William Galley, a custom-house officer, and Mr. Daniel Chater, a shoemaker, by fourteen notorious smugglers, with the trials and execution of seven of the criminals at Chichester, 1748-9

Encyclopaedia of Hove and Portslade

Harper, Charles C. The Smugglers (1909)

Kipling, Rudyard, A Smuggler’s Song

Mr G. Osborne

Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove

01 January 2023

Smugglers