Walking Through History

Smugglers' Cornwall (2x3)

Air date: Dec 14, 2013

In the late 18th century there was a sure-fire way to earn a living along the Cornish coast: smuggling. The tiny secretive harbours, beaches and secluded coves were ideal for the infamous illicit imports: brandy for the parson, tobacco for the clerk... It's also great walking country, as Tony discovers in his four-day trek along the stunning coastline between Plymouth and Falmouth. And the facts are extraordinary. Half of the brandy drunk in the country in the 1780s had been smuggled in illicitly through Cornwall. The smuggling business was so huge that it threatened the national economy. Tony discovers why so many people were involved in the trade, and why everyone else turned a blind eye.