The Yorkshire Village Built for Smuggling

Robin Hood's Bay looks like the prettiest fishing village in England. But 250 years ago, it was the busiest smuggling den on the Yorkshire coast.

Gin, brandy, tea and silk flooded in from Holland and France. Fishermen rowed out to meet ships in the dark, the whole village kept the secret, and it was said a bale of silk could travel from the beach to the moors without ever seeing daylight. This is the story of the smugglers, the excisemen who tried to stop them, and the tunnels that may still lie beneath the streets.

Have you walked the alleys of Robin Hood's Bay? Tell us in the comments.

Chapters
0:00 Smugglers on a moonless night
0:32 Robin Hood's Bay
1:02 Where did the name come from?
1:27 Taxes on everything
1:52 A village of smugglers
2:35 The secret tunnels
3:11 The excisemen
3:32 The battle in the bay, 1773
3:53 The 1779 raid
4:21 The drunk revenue men
4:44 Friends in high places
5:00 The fire that must never go out
5:39 The end of smuggling
5:55 Secrets under the streets
6:20 Robin Hood's Bay today

Sources
Wikipedia: Robin Hood's Bay
CITiZAN: Robin Hood's Bay, smuggling, ghosts and listed fish

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