170 The Neiv Forest : its Histori/ and its Scenery. 



murdered upwards of thirty people, whose bodies had been 

 thrown down a well, where they were found.* 



Such was the state of the New Forest in the last century. 

 But as recently as thirty or forty years ago every labourer was 

 either a poacher or a smuggler, very often a combination of the 

 two. Boats were built from the Forest timber in many a barn ; 

 and to this day various fields far inland are still called " the dock- 

 yard mead." Crews of Foresters, armed with " swingels," such 

 as the West- Saxons of Somerset fought with in the battle of 

 Sedgemoor, defied the coastguard. The principal " runs " were 

 made at Beckton and Chewton Bunnies, and the Gangway. 

 Often as many as a hundred " tubs," each containing four 

 gallons, and worth two or three guineas, or even more, would 

 be run in a night. Each man would carry two or three of 

 these kegs, one slung in front and two behind ; or if the cliff 

 was very steep, a chain of men was formed, and the tubs j)assed 

 from hand to hand. 



All this has been done within the memory of people not so 

 very old. Men were killed at ]Milton. Old Becton Bunny 

 House was burnt to the ground. A keg was carelessly broached, 

 and the spirit caught fire from the spark of a pipe. Every 

 person was in fact engaged in smuggling: — some for profit, 

 many merely from a love of adventure. Everywhere was under- 

 stood the smuggler's local proverb, " Keystone under the hearth, 

 keystone under the horse's belly."t 



* From an old chap-book, The Hampshire flfurderers, with illustra- 

 tions, without date or publisher's name, but probably written about 1776. 



f That is to say, the smuggled spirits were concealed either below the 

 fireplace or in the stable, just beneath where the horse stood. The expres- 

 sion of "Hampshire and Wiltsliire moon-rakers" had its origin in the 

 Wiltshire peasants fishing up the contraband goods at night, broiiglit 

 through the Forest, and hid in tiie various ponds. 



170 



