 starter activity
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the goverment
government rased
raised taxes to
foreign wars, especially those against Napoleon and France. These
pay for its foriegn
import duties were unpopular because they raised the price of many desireable
desirable
goods. They were also very hard to inforce.
enforce With several thousand miles of
Britain it was fairly easy to smuggle goods in, and
ungaurded
unguarded coastline around britain
there was a ready market among people who didn’t see why they should pay higher
prices. Indeed, like poching
poaching there were many who did not see smuggling as a crime
labourer’s daily wage in a
at all. A smuggler could earn six or seven times a farm labourers
night. Those who helped smugglers carry goods to the shore could expect to earn
labourers – robert
Robert Walpole
twice a labourer’s wage. Not all smugglers were laborers
walpole, later
Prime Minister, smuggled wine into the country while he was a government
minister using a government ship. Many thousands of people were envolved
involved in
smuggling. Under the Bloody Code, the government made smuggling a capitol
capital
offence.
There are marks for SPAG in the new GCSE. Help Mr Higgins find the SPAG mistakes in
his notes on the causes of smuggling. What’s the link between smuggling and the
Napoleonic Wars?
 Key words:
contraband
customs & excise clandestine
“Watch the wall, my
darling, while
the gentlemen go by!”
 Learning objectives
TBAT explain why smuggling was so
popular & assess the impact on Dover
Castle
 Your task


Study the sources and note down reasons why
smuggling would have been such a problem in
coastal towns such as Dover.
What evidence is there that smuggling was
linked to the Napoleonic Wars?
Smuggling






Fear – smugglers knew communities & heavily
armed
Consumerism – demand for luxury, expensive
goods
Tradition – popular since Middle Ages; folklore
popularised their actions
Proximity – close to Continent, so easy
Napoleonic Wars – unemployed turned to
smuggling
Encouraged by French – acted as spies
Members of the ‘Coast Blockade’
fight it put with local smugglers
Read the extract from the Dover
Castle guidebook and highlight any
evidence you find of changes at
Dover to the respond to the threat of
smuggling.
 Would you say there is more or
less evidence of smuggling at Dover
than there is of the Napoleonic Wars?
Why?
It’s 1828. Write a Time Traveller’s postcard to a loved one. Describe the following:
the reasons why smuggling is so popular locally, what has been done to stop the
problem at Dover, references to the Aldington gang.  Describe your new
accommodation at the bottom of the Castle and why you have moved there.
Success Criteria 
Room for improvement
Limited references to
smuggling
Limited references to
changes at Dover
Getting there
Wow factor!
Gives two reasons why
smuggling so popular
Gives three or more reasons
why smuggling is so popular
Gives some explanation of
changes at Dover
Explains what has been
done to stop the problem,
e.g. Coast Blockade, use of
tunnels, zig-zag path
Refers briefly to the
Aldington Gang, but needs
to explain who they were
and their activities further
Detailed references to
members of the Aldington
Gang
May refer to new
accommodation at foot of
cliffs
 Homework


Find 3 useful sites on smuggling and in a
sentence explain what can be learned from
them.
Can you find out what this item is?
 Key words:
contraband
customs & excise clandestine
“Watch the wall, my
darling, while
the gentlemen go by!”
 Learning objectives
TBAT explain why smuggling was so
popular & assess the impact on Dover
Castle