At Dumfries Museum until October 28, The Smuggling Trade, based on research by local historian Frances Wilkins, tells the fascinating story of smuggling in the Dumfries and Galloway area in the 18th century. It shows that, over several decades, it became a highly organised business involving a complete cross-section of the community.
The exhibition reveals that trying to evade government taxes levied on imported goods, such as tea, salt, tobacco and brandy, was an endeavour that drew in the poorest and richest people in the area.
Smuggling often provided extra income in times of need and historical accounts record that tax officers who tried to confiscate a cargo of tobacco, shipped in at night from the Isle of Man, were attacked by “a multitude of women armed with clubs and axes”.
Tel 01387 253374