Hidden Britain AtlasOpen the map
All places › Pirates
Pirate

Polperro

South-east Cornwall

A fishing village where almost everyone was in the smuggling trade.

In the 1700s nearly everyone in Polperro was said to be involved in smuggling, from fishermen to the local gentry. A man named Zephaniah Job became the smugglers' banker, keeping accounts and paying for cargoes of brandy and tobacco from Guernsey.

Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.

Open Polperro on the mapReport a sighting here
When
18th century
Where
50.3310, -4.5170
Group
Pirates

Visiting

Park above the village and walk down. A small heritage museum is open in summer.

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.

Buy on AmazonAll books by Cale Mills

Nearby mysteries