Railway + Smugglers

Work for the Elham valley railway started on the 28 August but did not open until the 1 July 1887. The owner of Bourne Park asked for a tunnel beneath his land because he did not wish the view from his mansion to be spoiled. Being a rich man he got what he wanted (don't they always).

Frank Illingworth's tunnel at Pegwell Bay is named after the man who explored it in 1938. He was convinced that it was a smugglers' tunnel he had found, and his view was certainly supported by his discovery of a pistol and three tunic buttons.
 

The Seven Sisters caves are located at Joss Bay in Broadstairs, where the famous smugglers gang the Callis Court Gang used to hide their smuggled goods. The gang leader Joss Snelling was born in 1741, and lived to the age of 96. He was still smuggling goods at the age of 89 when he got fined £100 for smuggling.

The East Kent Railway was built between 1911 and 1917 after test borings for the channel tunnel discovered a seam of coal. For many years it served a number of coal mines, but came into very good use during WW2 in September 1940 when it was used by the heavy railway guns for firing practice.