murdered upwards of thirty people, whose bodies had been thrown down a well, where they were found.[1]
Such was the state of the New Forest in the last century. But as recently as thirty or forty years ago every labourer was either a poacher or a smuggler, very often a combination of the two. Boats were built from the Forest timber in many a barn; and to this day various fields far inland are still called "the dockyard mead." Crews of Foresters, armed with "swingels," such as the West-Saxons of Somerset fought with in the battle of Sedgemoor, defied the coastguard. The principal "runs" were made at Beckton and Chewton Bunnies, and the Gangway. Often as many as a hundred "tubs," each containing four gallons, and worth two or three guineas, or even more, would be run in a night. Each man would carry two or three of these kegs, one slung in front and two behind; or if the cliff was very steep, a chain of men was formed, and the tubs passed from hand to hand.
All this has been done within the memory of people not so very old. Men were killed at Milton. Old Becton Bunny House was burnt to the ground. A keg was carelessly broached, and the spirit caught fire from the spark of a pipe. Every person was in fact engaged in smuggling:—some for profit, many merely from a love of adventure. Everywhere was understood the smuggler's local proverb, "Keystone under the hearth, keystone under the horse's belly."[2]
- ↑ From an old chap-book, The Hampshire Murderers, with illustrations, without date or publisher's name, but probably written about 1776.
- ↑ That is to say, the smuggled spirits were concealed either below the fireplace or in the stable, just beneath where the horse stood. The expression of "Hampshire and Wiltshire moon-rakers" had its origin in the Wiltshire peasants fishing up the contraband goods at night, brought through the Forest, and hid in the various ponds.
