The Alde Estuary is one of the most attractive estuaries in the country. From Aldeburgh it meanders close to the coast past Shingle Street and Orford, finally reaching the maltings at Snape where there is now a fine international concert hall. From Snape to Aldeburgh is a Sailors Path and walking along here today you realise just how remote and quiet stretches of the river bank can be - a great spot to land contraband.

Below is an extract from Smuggling in the British Isles: a History by Richard Platt. For more detail visit his website www.smuggling.co.uk

The villages and towns along the meandering Alde all saw their fair share of the free-trade: Sudbourne was the home of a particularly brazen smuggler, Richard Chaplin. On his retirement, he placed an advertisement in a local newspaper that must surely have been calculated to cock a snoot at his traditional rivals, the revenue men. It is worth reproducing in full:
'Richard Chaplin, Sudbourne, Suffolk, near Orford, begs to acquaint his friends and the public in general That he has some time back declined the branch of smuggling and returns thanks for all their past favours. To be SOLD on Monday August 6th at the dwelling house of Samuel Bathers, Sudbourn, the property of Richard Chaplin aforesaid. A very useful Cart fit for a maltster, ashman or smuggler — it will carry 80 half ankers or tubs — one small ditto that will carry 40 tubs; also very good loaden Saddles, three Pads, Straps, Bridles, Girths, Horse-cloth, Corn-bin, very good Vault and many articles that are useful to a smuggler.'

Aldeburgh itself was deeply implicated in the free-trade: Lord Orford once commented that the only man in Orford who was not a smuggler was the parson. And though there is little to directly connect Snape with smuggling, it was nevertheless the scene of at least one unfortunate clash between the smugglers and the preventives: when Jeremiah Gardener came across a gang of desperate smugglers near to Snape in 1727 he made the mistake of challenging them, despite the fact that he was heavily outnumbered. The smugglers fired on him, so he drew his sword, but this proved no deterrent: his assailants cut off his nose, and if he hadn't crawled off and hidden behind a hedge, poor Jeremiah would not have escaped alive.

The remoteness of Orford made it a valuable spot for landing goods unobserved. The port was controlled by a customer and searcher from Aldeburgh, and these officials visited Orford just a couple of times a week. As late as 1856 one local ship's master observed that by timing the visit carefully, any would-be smuggler could spend two days in Orford harbour unloading an incoming cargo — perhaps wine — and loading a new one for export to the continent. The King's Head at Orford was used as a storehouse for goods run at Hollesley Bay.

Click here for an introduction to the history of smuggling in Suffolk.