Strange adventures in the County of Dorset AD 1747

When you stumble upon a book with a title like this, you just have to spend a few pounds to buy it.

It is primarily a story about English South Coast smuggling, ghostly rumours within the cliff-top caves and passages of the local Manor House (ghosts being the best security against snoopers), a wealthy Spanish smuggler for the love intrigue and much mayhem and murder around the Poole Customs House ...

                      “there is said to be a real accredited gang of smugglers about, a tangible witch hard by, a ghost in the house ...”

It is a fast moving tale centred around, amongst other things, the confiscation of illegal tea, the recapture of the tea by the smugglers and eventually, almost a happy ending. It is a story about the infamous Hawkhurst Gang; but everybody was at it “an immense and well-organised illegal traffic was carried on by those deemed the most respectable inhabitants of the district”. Apparently, twenty to thirty wagons of spirit kegs conducted by two to three hundred smugglers were not uncommon in the New Forrest where almost every man was a smuggler or poacher.

The central characters, traveling to the south coast, enter into the spirit of the times by being “much afraid of leaving London, on account of the highwaymen”, and when they finally arrive in their country house immediately sense the ghost “there is something eerie in the room, and I don’t feel happy in it alone.”

But what makes this different to other smuggling/ghost stories is that it is written in the diary format of those who were actually there. The quaint and precise 18th Century form of writing with wonderfully evocative descriptions of the countryside are themselves a joy to read and add hugely to the ambiance of the tale ...

                      “the many coloured sand cliffs curved around the bay, topped by a line of purple heather surmounted by fir trees, the line of the cliffs terminating in a distant headland”

It is as if you are actually there, a part of the elegance,

       

                      “after dinner, Eva seated herself at an old fashioned spinet with odd, old tinkling notes, and sang ...”

but yet also a part of the brutality of the age ...

                      

                       “ a bad offender is hung and the body left in chains ...”

And, in addition, there is a large map and illustrations so you can easily follow the action around Swanage, Corfe Castle, the Isle of Wight, Christchurch and Studland amongst many names well recognised by Dorset families. I particularly like some of the descriptions such as cormorants being labelled  as “Isle of Wight parsons”, although I did object to my favourite Blue Vinny cheese being described as a “poor sort of cheese called “Vinny.”

Finally, good luck in finding this book; your efforts will be rewarded.