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The Hawkhurst Gang

Hawkhurst, Kent

Britain's most feared smuggling gang, with hundreds of men at their call.

The Hawkhurst Gang ran tea and brandy across Kent and Sussex in the 1740s. In 1747 they broke into the Poole Custom House to take back a seized cargo of tea.

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When
1740s
Where
51.0470, 0.5090
Group
Pirates

Visiting

Hawkhurst is a Wealden village; the Royal Oak pub was their haunt.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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