Just a century and a half ago the area west of Christchurch around the mouth of the river Bourne was wild and desolate. The open country inland was known as Bourne Heath. Smuggling was rife: the first Earl of Malmesbury remarked that...

“All classes contributed to its support, the farmers lent their teams and labourers, and the gentry openly connived at the practise and dealt with the smugglers. The cargoes, chiefly of brandy, were usually concealed in furze bushes that extended from Ringwood to Poole, and in the New Forest for thirty miles.”

The creation of the town of Bournemouth is generally credited to Lewis Tregonwell: in 1810 he built a holiday home (now part of the Royal Exeter Hotel) in the Bourne Valley. However, there is speculation that the highly respectable Tregonwell was himself a smuggler.  This theory is a little far-fetched, but was fuelled by the discovery in 1930 of a hidden chamber on the site of Portman Lodge — a thatched house that Tregonwell had enlarged for the use of his servant. The Times reported:

'The underground chamber...is about 10ft long, 7ft wide and 6ft high and the only entrance to it is a trap door. It is a kind of arched chamber and was found about three feet below the level of the ground'

The concealed chamber would have made an admirable hiding place for Tregonwell's flunkeys to conceal smuggled goods, and the holiday home provided the ideal excuse for their master to visit the coast and supervise operations.

Respectable free-traders

There is also evidence that other worthies of the area were involved with the trade, or at least turned a blind eye. One amusing story tells how a commissioner of customs, Edward Hooper, was entertaining Lord Shaftesbury, the Chairman of the Customs and Excise, at Hooper's home, Heron Court (now Hurn Court). The house lay directly alongside one of the major routes used by smugglers to bring contraband spirits inland, but Hooper was clearly reluctant to lose the goodwill of his neighbours by interfering with the trade. So the host sat with his back to the window during dinner, and did not turn round when six or seven wagons noisily rolled past, loaded with tubs. Shaftesbury sprang from his seat to look at the spectacle, staggered by his host's complacency. When the meal was interrupted again, by a party of dragoons in hot pursuit of the smugglers, the old squire could truthfully assert that he had seen nothing. His guest followed his example.

Prior to the development of Bournemouth, one of the few buildings in the area was a house close to Coy Pond. The site of this lies between the War Memorial and the Square, and the name is a contraction of decoy: the pond had a wildfowl trap on it, and decoys led the birds inside. The house, called Bourne House, had an evil reputation, and was almost certainly owned or rented by smugglers, though some assert that it was simply a shelter associated with the trap. From here, they organized trips abroad, kept an eye on the landings — and plotted revenge on their enemies. In 1762 the Bournemouth smugglers suspected one Joseph Manuel of Iford of informing against them, and they decided to teach him a lesson. The lad was kidnapped and taken to Bourne House, then severely beaten and transported on a lugger to the Channel Islands. He managed to escape with his life, and returned to England — a £50 reward brought information about the crime, and four years later one of the smugglers responsible was captured in Swanage.

Bournemouth Smugglers' Methods

The technique used by smugglers landing goods in the Bournemouth area was simple — and one that worked with equal success in other parts of Britain. A lugger would hover off-shore, and a signal from the coast would indicate whether or not it was safe to land. In the event that the preventive forces were patrolling, the lugger could move far more quickly by sea that the customs or excise men could ride.

Isaac Gulliver

Bournemouth's most famous smuggler was Isaac Gulliver, who achieved almost legendary status. He's the archetypical smuggler, a real lovable villain. And in one respect at least, Gulliver is different from other partners in the free-trade: he claimed never to have killed a man in the course of a long career.

Unlike some smuggling heroes, such as Sam Hookey, who was created in the 1950s to advertise a holiday camp, it is clear that Gulliver really did exist, and carried out some extraordinary exploits. While on the one hand there is ample documentary evidence surrounding his life, on the other it's certain that many of the tales about Gulliver have been embroidered to a greater or lesser extent. For more about Isaac Gulliver see the page King of the Smugglers.