Whenever taxes are imposed - particularly when these taxes are perceived as unfair - people will seek to avoid them. Smuggling had its genesis in the taxes (actually, customs duty) imposed on the export of wool in 1300. Norfolk, being at the time a great producer of wool, was one of the first areas of the country to rebel against this imposition.
However, it was the Napoleonic wars in the late 18th and 19th centuries that is most closely associated with the "importing" of certain luxury items, which were heavily taxed to pay for the war. This was particularly so for Brandy from the enemy nation of France. This gave rise to the famous poem by Rudyard Kipling:
Five and twenty ponies,
trotting through the dark - Brandy for the Parson
'Baccy for the clerk:
Laces for a lady: letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling, while the Gentleman go by!
The location of the broads on the coast of East Anglia, thrusting out into the North Sea facing Holland, made it a good place to smuggle contraband, which could be safely brought ashore on any number of landing places and swiftly distributed through the network of the broadland rivers by the wherries, along with their more legitimate cargo.
The many wind pumps in the area played a great part in the cat and mouse game played out between the smugglers and the hated revenue men. A system of signalling was set up whereby, at the first sign of trouble, the barrels of brandy and other contraband could be dropped over the side of the wherry and left underwater, like lobster pots, with a marker known only to the wherry captain. Later, when the danger had past, the goods were recovered.
The system of signalling with wind pumps was as simple as it was effective: If danger was around, the wind pump operator would stop the sails, so they made the Cross of Saint Andrew X. Once danger had past, they were reset to make the Cross of Saint George +. If this happened on a rare day without wind, a boy would be sent out to cling to the nearest sail until his weight dragged the sails round to the required position.
Once the next wind pump had seen the message and set their sails accordingly to relay the message futher on, the first Wind Pump would continue turning as normal. Using this system a message could be sent all the way from Yarmouth, where the Revenue Officers were based, and be all around the broads long before the authorities were anywhere near.
One such wind pump that figured large in this ingenious bush telegraph was Horsey Wind Pump, owing to its prime location just a few miles from the North Sea shore.
Copyright 2006 NorfolkBroadsExplorer.com
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