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By 1700 Riding Officers were appointed, stationed along the coast to control the illegal export of wool. An officer had to provide his own horse to patrol an area of coast at night. He was paid £25 a year plus an allowance for his horse. His job was to listen to rumours, keep a low profile and write a daily record of all he saw. It was not a popular service but continued until after 1850. Other ‘preventive’ services trying to outwit the smugglers were Customs House Officers, responsible for legal trade, and Excise Officers, whose duty was to collect taxes on manufactured goods later extended to various other imported goods. In addition to the land based officers there was a small fleet of Revenue vessels, cutters and luggers, used to patrol the sea. They were too few to be really effective against larger smuggling boats. |
From the 18th century to the early 19th century there were many smugglers in the Rye area. The most notorious and formidable gang was the Hawkhurst Gang. They used the Mermaid Inn, Mermaid Street, Rye as one of their bases terrorising the area of Kent and Sussex and no one dared to interfere with their activities. Its members did not hesitate to torture or murder anyone who opposed their operations.
| The gang was finally defeated in 1747 by the Goudhurst Militia and its members executed in 1749. Rye smugglers were very successful in evading the law since there is little evidence of their being brought to trial. However the Ypres Tower, Rye, used as a prison, is known to have housed smugglers. A smuggler’s Signaling Lamp (on display in the museum) was found in a hidden room at Iden. The light container was held in the crook of the left arm while the right hand, placed over the end of the light-emitting ’spout’, signaled the message. The single candle’s light inside the lantern could be seen as a pinpoint of light well out to sea. |
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In 1821 the National Coastguard Service was introduced. This evolved into a disciplined and uniformed body, with shore based patrols, a rowing guard offshore and men on the Revenue cutters patrolling the sea. Coastguard cottages were built at regular points round the coast to house the officers. In the war against smuggling the initiative had passed from the smuggler. |
The most important factor in the suppression of smuggling was the enormous reduction and abolition of most of the duties as part of the policy of Free Trade in the first half of the 19th Century. With the wholesale reform of the Customs service in 1853, which ensured a loyal and efficient force, the picture is completed. Smuggling, thereafter, was relatively unimportant. The Coastguards remained, but their work became more of a sea rescue and life saving service.
