This information on this plaque was found on the internet and the National Maritime Museum Website.
A TRUE STORY OF CORNWALLS MOST FAMOUS SMUGGLING FAMILY
Try to imagine in the 1700,s this place called Pengersick which means "Head of the Marsh". The terrain was wet and boggy and lay halfway between the Customs office in Penzance and the Customs office in Helston, this being at the extremity of each of the Customs officers search area. The road from Penzance was maintained by a Turnpike Trust stopping at the Turnpike Hill at Marazion. The rest of the road through to Helston was a rough cart track. Imagine in the 1700's, lighting was only by candles, torches and oil lamps and when darkness fell it would become a haven for smugglers who would "own the night". To give you an idea of the historical timeline, Dick Turpin had been hung in April of the year 1739. John Carter was just 1 year old at that time and living here in Pengersick.
Along with his brothers Harry and Charles John would make the family the most notorious Smugglers in Cornwall's history and would out live nearly all of the Smugglers in the country, such as the Hawkhurst gang in Kent started in 1735 and ran by Arthur Grey (hung in 1748) and Thomas Kingsmill (Hung in 1749).
If you are facing Smugglers Barn where the Blue Plaque is sited, just behind you is Pengersick Castle which from records at that time showed that it was in ruins. A myth was created by the smugglers telling of the 'Black Dog of Pengersick', this was created to discourage any prying eyes of the ordinary folk in the vicinity at the time. History tells of the smugglers watching out on top of the ruins tower where they could clearly see out into the bay watching out for arriving ships ready to unload their haul and also enabling them to keep an eye out for the Revenue Cutters.
To give you an idea, if you look further down at the Admiralty chart below of the time, you can see the 'transit points', where smugglers could line up their ship over the shoals of shallower water and where they could 'hover' or 'loiter'. The smugglers would then either wait for a signal from shore to meet near a cove to unload their cargo or sink barrels of liquor in the shoals (shallow sand area). A smaller boat would then come with a grappling hook and retrieve it at a later date, this process was called 'Creeping'.
To prevent the acts of 'loitering, hovering and creeping', King George I brought in the first "Hovering Act of 1709 preventing any ship larger than 50 tons from coming any closer than 6 miles from the shore, which basically would be waiting for a chance to unload it's cargo without alerting the Customs and Excise officers. (Customs is for tax on imported goods and Excise is the tax on Exported Goods ).
IV. ‘And Whereas by an Act passed in the Eighth Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the First, intituled An Act to prevent the clandestine removing of Goods, and the Danger of Infection thereby; and to prevent Ships breaking their Quarantine; and to subject Copper Ore of the Production of the British Plantations to such Regulations as other enumerated Commodities of the like Production are subject, certain Provisions are made against Persons found passing with Foreign Goods, landed without Payment of Duties, in their Custody, from any of the Coasts of this Kingdom, or within the Space of Twenty Miles of any of the said Coasts, wearing any Vizard, Mask or other Disguise: And Whereas it is expedient to extend the like Provisions with respect to any Person or Persons so disguised and found or discovered on board certain Vessels found within the British or Irish Channels, or elsewhere within certain Distances of the Coast of this Kingdom;’ Be it therefore enacted, That if any Person or Persons, being His Majesty’s Subject or Subjects, shall be found or taken on board, or discovered to have been on board any Ship, Vessel or Boat liable to Forfeiture under any of the Provisions of any Act or Acts of Parliament, for being found or having been at anchor or hovering within any such Distances of any of the Dominions of His Majesty, with such Goods on board as subject such Ship, Vessel or Boat, or Goods, to Forfeiture, wearing any Vizard, Mask or other Disguise, such Person or Persons shall be adjudged guilty of Felony, and shall on Conviction for such his, her or their Offence, be transported as a Felon for the Space of Seven Years; and if any such Offender shall return into Great Britain or Ireland before the Expiration of the said Seven Years, he, she or they so returning shall suffer as a Felon, and have Execution awarded against him, her or them, as Persons attainted of Felony without Benefit of Clergy.
Further clauses of the smuggling act involved hefty fines for anyone allowing lights to be used to signal boats out at sea. When a ship carrying contraband wished to unload it's cargo out in the bay there would be up to 100 local people on the beach willing to help unload. Below is a copy of the act; (Part 5)
V. ‘And Whereas by an Act passed in the Forty seventh Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled An Act to make more effectual Provision for the Prevention of Smuggling, it is enacted, that any Person or Persons making, or aiding or assisting in the making, or being present for the purpose of aiding or assisting in the making any Light, Fire, Flash or Blaze, or Signal, in or on board any Vessel or Boat, or on or from any Part of the Coast or Shores of Great Britain, or within Six Miles of such Coast or Shores, for the purpose of making or giving any Signal to any Person or Persons on board any Smuggling Vessel or Boat, and being duly convicted thereof, shall by Order of the Court before whom such Person or Persons shall be convicted, either forfeit and pay the Penalty of One hundred Pounds, or at the Discretion of such Court be sentenced to or committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, there to be kept to hard Labour for any Term not exceeding One Year: And Whereas it is expedient to encourage the Apprehension of such Offenders;’ Be it enacted, That in every such Case where any Offender or Offenders shall be so convicted of such Offence as aforesaid, and shall, in lieu of paying any such Penalty, be sentenced to or committed to the Common Gaol or House of Correction, it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of the Customs and Excise respectively to order and direct any Sum not exceeding Twenty five Pounds to be paid out of any Monies in the Hands of the Receiver General of the Customs and Excise respectively, to any Person or Persons who shall have informed against, discovered or prosecuted any such Offender as aforesaid.
At this time if you weren't working in one of the many tin or copper mines in the area working 61/2 days a week with just a candle on your head to enable you to see, you were fishing or preparing pilchards or sardines for a living. The ordinary people needed the fine salt to preserve the fish they had caught enabling it to be exported to the Mediterranean. The middle and upper classes of the time needed the smugglers reasonably priced Tea, Brandy, Salt, Lace and Tobacco. All these goods were taxed to multiple times of it's original value. Wherever the smugglers went local people would gladly help stash their haul, or keep an eye out for the revenue men and would pass the word on to friends when goods were available.
The local pubs were trading houses for the smugglers, these were called 'Winks'. You only have to walk 2.5 miles along the coastal path going west from here in Praa Sands to arrive at Bessies cove (now called Pisky's cove). The pub there was run by Bessie Bussow and was called the Kiddlerwink. She would buy one barrel to show the customs officers, which would be the 'legal' barrel from which you would pay a much much higher price for a drink or you could order a glass of "cousin Jacks" which meant I want one from under the counter or it was sometimes kept in a kettle. A wink would be given to the landlord and if he winked back it would mean I have some available. The Smugglers would also wink at the landlord to let him or her know that they had Brandy to sell.
This is just the start of an amazing story of a Smuggling family and of the brave Customs and Excise men of the time. The drawing on the left is of John and Harry Carter when they were captured by French Naval officers whilst acting as British Privateers for the Admiralty.
The Carters sold their goods to people from all walks of life, from the ordinary poor folk to the gentry and even the judiciary which is why it is said, no court in Cornwall would convict them. John Carter and his smuggling activities were immortalised by a song written about smugglers and then turned into a poem “The Smuggler’s Song” by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). This poem was published in 1906 and remains popular today. Look further down the pages to read this poem with the words " face the wall my darling - while the gentlemen go by". Use our website to locate an historic part of Praa Sands and then read at your leisure when you are at home - you will marvel at the hidden history of Praa Sands.
Look at the transit points the view from Pengersick Tower.
Enlarged part of the 1794 edition of this chart showing the five officially recognised gun batteries on this part of the coast of Mount’s Bay and Pra Sands. (Courtesy of HM Hydrographic Office, Exeter)
This later 1888 OS map together with historical records shows "Smugglers Barn" being the only site i
"THE REVENUE MEN" - VERSUS THE SMUGGLERS.
The brave government officers - excellent at their job, but there were just too few of them to make
In the Eighteen Century the country's coffers were being run dry by the war with the French and the War with the Americans, so they raised taxes to a crippling amount to try to bring in money. The problem was that the local people in Cornwall felt the biggest pinch from these actions because at that time the main industry was with mining or fishing and in particular Pilchards or Sardines. Thats where you look at the very old Cornwall Council logo's it had a Miner one Side and Fisherman the other. Well let's just take fishing for now. Some of the biggest markets for Cornish fish was France and Northern Spain. To export these fish it needed salt to preserve it on the journey. Our salt was too course so they had to bring it in from Spain and guess what. It got taxed at an enormous rate. It almost killed the industry, local Cornish people were starting to go hungry. Some of them tried farming so they tried to sell the fleeces abroad and hey presto it got taxed. This was baslcally the working class footing the bill for these wars, but it was not just these people, the middle and upper class local population such as the Clerk and the local magistrate the local policeman all liked a cup of tea and the occasional glass of French Brandy or wine and again became dismayed when the taxes were ludicrously high on these small luxuries. So along came the Smuggler with a haul of massively discounted goods, then the local upper class people thought no more of buying smuggled goods, in fact some even thought the government were the criminals at the time because the were being extorted to pay a ransom for their tipple for afternoon pot of tea. Now just imagine you found a local man who could just oblige you with your small desires for a handsome price and could be relied upon not just to be relied on to supply but a person you could rely on his word - a difficult person to find in the criminal world along comes John and Harry Carter assisted by another brother Charles Carter born on a small holding right here in Pengersick and you have a catalyst in the smuggling explosion in Cornwall in the 18th Century it exploded as quick as it imploded, but I will come to that later.
Just imagine in the 1700,s this place called Pengersick which meant "Head of the Marsh" lay halfway between the customs in Penzance and the customs office in Helston which was at the extremity of their search area. The road from Penzance stopped at the turnpike at Marazion. In the 1700,s lighting was only candles, torches and oil lamps and when it was dark would become a haven for smugglers.
Harry wrote of his exploits in smuggling in his autobiography in 1809 and he says that he was brought up in decent poverty by his mother and father who rented a smallholding in Pengersick for just 12 shillings a year.
There are dozens of books that verify this. But your best links on the internet are from the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth they have a fantastic Museum and really good library with brilliant researchers. Its well worth a visit.
https://www.maritimeviews.co.uk/smuggling/harry-carter-the-highlights/
https://www.maritimeviews.co.uk/smuggling/the-carters-note-on-sources/
There is another good book called
“The Story of an Ancient Parish Breage with Germoe”
By H R Coulthard
Published 1913
Heres a really good link to this book you can read it as an E book inside there is a large section on the castle opposite.
Again it says here Harry Carter was born on a small farm in Pengersick and the he say's he was a Privateer and a Revivalist.
The buildings are shown here in the painting of Pengersick Castle in a watercolour over pencil painting by William Payne (1750-1830) dated 1826 with just a cart track seperating the smallholding from the castle ruins.
Here you can a Victorian Ordnance Survey (1888-1913) of Pengersick. Smugglers Barn marked in red. apart from the castle that Smugglers Barn is the only small holding in Pengersick.
This is an old original map of Pengersick an original drawn by hand in 1830 it is held by Kresen Kernow records office.
Look closely at 13, 14,15 16a and 17a and then look closely at the rent book from Lord Goldolphin and the Barton of Pengersick. 13 and 14 are the cottages where the family lived.
Look at 15 which is a meeting House. This emphasises that Harry the Preacher lived here. If you were a Wesleyan at the time you could not call it a church it had to be called a meeting house and this house lies East to West similar to Churches. Then look at 16a the small garden for the Meeting house and 17a which was the little meadow for the Carters smallholding.
This photo is taken at the turn of the century.
Look here at Carters battery to protect the coves where the contraband would be dropped off under water and look at Pengersick and the transit points to line yourself up over various dropping of points for contraband. Because then there was the "loitering act" and you could be fined for hovering. So by using the transit points you could line yourself up over the drop off point, where people would row out in smaller boats and recover them when the "coast was clear".