Description
In 18th century England, the entire coastline was ruled by major smuggling barons and their private armies of anarchic labourers recruited from coastal villages. By the 1780s smuggling had reached such unprecedented heights that the government was forced to take a stand, not only to protect its revenue, but also to quell the revolutionary posturing of the smuggling gangs.
North Norfolk was particularly lawless and was in the control of ruthless and vicious operators determined to maintain a stranglehold on their illicit commercial activities. In 1783 army regiments and naval warships returned to England at the end of the war against the American colonies and were pitched headlong into a domestic war against the smuggling gangs. A decade of bloody confrontation, violence and death ensued.
The Lawless Coast recounts, in detail drawn from contemporary documents, the battles which ensued on the beaches and in the villages of North Norfolk. Includes a fold out colour map.
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