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St Margaret's Bay to Old Stairs Bay and Deal. (5 miles)
Parking beside the memorial above St Margaret's Bay at TR 373452. Approach along the B5028, turning left at the crest of the final descent to the bay along Granville Road; keep straight on to the memorial. The walk north from here is along the Saxon Shore Way (a specially signed long distance footpath between Rye and Gravesend). The path follows the cliff edge over downland preserved by the National Trust, and gives startling views of wrecks on the Goodwin Sands on a clear day. Presently, all the smuggling beaches at Walmer, Deal and Sandwich Bay come into view. Beside the steps at Old Stairs Bay are the Victorian Coastguard cottages and the Old Watch House, the Coast Blockade station which preceded them.
The route continues along Undercliff Road, turning right at the Rising Sun Inn, and left along the unmade road parallel to the shore. At Walmer the beach was one of the battlegrounds of the Aldington gang in 1826. Walmer Castle is the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. Here a smuggler brought news of the victory at Camperdown in 1797 to William Pitt, and here too Wellington died.
On the beach in Deal itself, the six-oared galley punt Undaunted is preserved by the pier (a reminder of the January day in 1785 when Pitt had all the boats destroyed). The seamen and smugglers lived in the small houses of Middle Street and other narrow alleys nearby, which are now a conservation area. The Museum of Maritime and Local History in St George's Road is open afternoons during the main season. Here the galley Saxon King is preserved, with pictures of how it was rigged, and a model of a smuggling vessel with tubs hung ready for sinking.
Folkestone Warren to Folkestone Harbour. (1.5 miles)
The best start is a bus to the Valiant Sailor Inn, on the North Downs crest above Folkestone; the walk is then all down hill! Notice the public bridleway on the north side of the A20, opposite the Valiant Sailor. This was the route the smugglers used to a cache at Hockley Sole Farm (TR 245401), now a private house. A signed footpath beside the inn heads south, straight for the cliff edge, with a remarkable view over East Wear Bay, Folkestone and the distant French coast. The contraband was landed on the sands of East
Wear Bay and brought up to the notorious Warren House, which stood just south east of Martello 1 (landslides and the building of the railway have altered some features since). It was then carried up the path to the Valiant Sailor Inn, and sheep were driven after the convoy to obscure the traces.
Continue down the smugglers' route past the Martello Towers (the first of seventy four, (built between 1805 and 1812 against the threat of invasion from France). The beach at Copt Point was formerly more extensive. It was from here that the galleys were rowed over to France, the oarsmen swathed in special purses stuffed with gold guineas. A careless smuggler once left behind a considerable haul on the beach! The route descends past East Cliff Pavilion and down steps to the promenade which leads round to the Stade, the old landing place. (Thomas Telford designed the first harbour here in 1808, but the large western pier was added when the railway came in 1843).
The fishermen's' quarter and smuggler's houses, with cellars and escape tunnels, lay behind the Stade. Only old street names such as The Durlocks and Old Radnor Street survive as reminders of the time in the 1740s when, according to Admiral Vernon, there were three hundred smugglers living here. The steep and cobbled High Street above Folkestone Harbour is a surviving remnant of the old town. At one stage three and a half gallon casks of spirit stolen from the Custom warehouse were sold for ten shillings at the Folkestone Arms Inn! Turner was one of the many distinguished 19th century visitors to Folkestone. He was fascinated by what took place offshore, and painted several scenes which features the Folkestone smugglers at work.