Smugglers Tales
In the early 1800s smuggling was rife and not least on the Isle of Sheppey. Being an Island there were many points of entry by boat, and enter they did. Many islanders considered that smuggling was an honourable and profitable pursuit, and were addicted to it.
The headquarters of all of this illegal traffic, appeared to be an inn called the Royal Oak at Minster, which was situated in a unique position on the edge of the cliffs. Totally surrounded by trees, which also overhung the cliffs, it had a natural gulley running down an incline to the beach below. On dark nights, the smugglers would carry their illegal cargoes of silks, brocades, lace, kegs of spirit or tobacco, up the tortuous pathway, from the beach below, defying detection by the excise authorities. It is easy to picture these events, and sometimes they can seem exciting, and daring, however, there were often a darker side to these practices, terminating in a ghastly tragedy.
Within a half mile of the smugglers retreat, there is an annexe burial ground of the Abbey Church of St. Sexburga, which has a weather- beaten headstone on a grass grown grave, bearing this legend:-
It is not certain what happened, but it is supposed that the victim surprised a gang of smugglers, very early in the morning, and being mistaken for a Revenue informer, was immediately pounced upon. In the affray his head was nearly severed from his body by a blow from a bill-hook, or similar item. It is also suspected, that in order to put the authorities off of the scent, the smugglers themselves originated the subscription, and paid for the unfortunate man's burial and headstone. However, even with the the large reward offered, the perpetrators of this murder were never detected.
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