During the 18th and 19th Centuries, times where hard, and due to the level's of tax being charged by the government, for goods coming from oversea's, people found a non-tax method of bringing goods into the country. If you lived on a coast line, then smuggling was a part of life, you where either involved directly, or a little parcel was left on your door step, to keep your silence. Those that decided that they where not going to be part of it, unfortunately, they would face an early death. Law enforcement was patchy, if any of the gang was taken, and they knew which excise officer was involved, then it could often lead if he was lucky to his house being burned down, if not then to his death.
The Divers Arms Herne Bay is a Smugglers Inn. It was built by a smuggler named William Wood, who was caught smuggling and spent 5 years on a naval vessel. On his release, he became a diver, and salvaged a Spanish Ship, carrying a lot of money, with this he built the Inn, and become a landlord. Beside the Inn a brook ran down to the sea, which was operated by a sluice. Wood's was given the job of looking after the sluice, this was too good an opportunity for a smuggler and he reportedly, had a doorway leading from his cellar to the sluice, and some goods would make their way into his cellar. It is possible a blind eye was turned, as he died leaving a respectable fortune.
This is a Smugglers Inn, where there is a secret passage which runs from the cellar to the church opposite. When the excise men came in to the Inn the smugglers would make they way through the passage to the church and then escape. I was told it was still there but had been blocked off for safety reasons.
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