Kingsand and Cawsand
Rame Peninsula, Cornwall
Kingsand and Cawsand, near Plymouth, were notorious smuggling villages in the 1700s and early 1800s. Around 40 or 50 boats were said to work from here, landing thousands of kegs of brandy a year.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- 1700s–1800s
- Where
- 50.3300, -4.2000
- Group
- Pirates
Visiting
Two pretty villages reached by ferry or road from Plymouth.

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.
Nearby mysteries
- The Plymouth Hoe GiantsHill figure · Plymouth Hoe, Devon · 3 miles away
- Henry EveryPirate · Newton Ferrers, Devon · 7 miles away
- Drake's DrumPirate · Buckland Abbey, Devon · 11 miles away
- CoteheleHaunted place · Near Saltash, Cornwall · 11 miles away
- Dupath WellHoly well · Near Callington, Cornwall · 12 miles away
- St Keyne's WellHoly well · St Keyne, near Liskeard, Cornwall · 13 miles away