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The Owlers of Romney Marsh

Romney Marsh, Kent

Night-time wool smugglers who signalled with owl calls.

Romney Marsh was ideal smuggling country, flat, foggy and close to France. In the 1600s and 1700s 'owlers' smuggled wool out to France, where it fetched high prices, and brought back brandy and lace.

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When
1600s–1700s
Where
51.0000, 0.9000
Group
Pirates

Visiting

The marsh has many medieval churches, some said to have hidden smugglers' goods.

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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