the low-raftered rooms of the Hoy Inn to conjure up
a whole series of smuggling episodes. A similar old
inn at Leigh, the Peter Boat, when pulled down in
1892, was found to have a subterranean cave which
had been used for the storing of smuggled goods.
Before the Eighteenth Century smuggling was
practically confined to the illicit export of cloth and
wool, but after the Dutch Wars came the wars of
expansion, involving an ever-increasing burden of
taxation, levied mainly on commodities, so that this
period became the Golden Age of smuggling.
"Trading Associations" were established, which,
operating from Ostend, Calais and Dunkirk,
controlled smuggling on a large scale in co-operation
with wealthy merchants and employed veritable
fleets of armed ships. The Essex coast was not suited
for operations of this nature, partly by reason of the
small size of the local craft and still more on account of
the comparative ease with which the Thames" mouth
could be guarded by the revenue cutters; but
smuggling on a smaller scale, chiefly for local needs,
was carried on and occasioned many exciting
escapades. Sometime between 1830 and 1840 a
"Watch vessel" was set up at Hole Haven. This
was part of a kind of coastguard—anti-smuggling
system taken over by the Admiralty from the Customs
Department. Other watch vessels were at Tilbury,
Havengore Creek and Burnham.
THE CHURCH.
The Parish Church is dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary and consists of Nave and Chancel,
North Aisle and embattled South Aisle, a low west
tower with weather-boarded spire, and a south porch.
The earliest part of the existing church, which is
composed mainly of Kentish ragstone with an
admixture of ancient brick, dates from about the
middle of the Twelfth Century, but traces have been
observed of an earlier church lying to the south-east
of the present chancel. Domesday Book says quite
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