The full story of the Battle of Mudeford is detailed by Mike Powell in his book of the name published by Natula Publications, Briar Park Business Centre, 11 Stour Road, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 1PL and is well worth the read. This page of the website is a very much shortened account of the battle taken from the book. Smuggling has been a means of income for the British since time immemorial it seems, in fact income tax was only introduced in 1792 before which taxes were raised by Governments by means of levies on imports and exports thus our obsession with evasion of the tax. In a lull from fighting the rest of the world between 1783 and 1793 the battle of Mudeford took place in 1784.
The men behind smuggling were usually wealthy putting up the money to purchase
vessels etc whereas those that ran the risk of being caught in the act
were fishermen and farm laborers for whom the extra income was essential
to life. To combat the regular runs abroad the Excise patrolled the channel
with fast cutters and the coastline with soldiers. Each port had its own
Customs House for the honest importer the House for Christchurch being
at the Port of Southampton. Excise men were thin on the ground however
and it was relatively easy to evade duty most of the time, even if caught
it was often that the case failed so evasion was rife.
In the early 1780's Christchurch was a town of some 1500 residents nestling
where it does now between the rivers Avon and Stour which run to the sea
via Christchurch harbour and 'The Run'. As far back as the Stone Age man
has used the area as a port trading with seafarers who visited the harbour
to sell their wears. The town of Christchurch was linked by road to the
fishing village of Mudeford and the harbour entrance, Haven House sits
at the mouth of the harbour on the Mudeford side and the Black House on
the 'Warren Hill', Hengistbury Head side. The isolation of the area generally
and the difficulty in getting to it by land made it an ideal smugglers
paradise.
As you might imagine there were many people involved in smuggling some of whom should have known better and much was left to chance. On the 5th July the Revenue Cutter, Rose sighted sail and made towards it to check its cargo. The sail was that of the Civil Usage which at the time was laden with contraband and on sighting the Rose made for Cherborg. After days of cat and mouse the captain of the Civil Usage changed his load to aggregate and made for home, Christchurch, needless to say she was boarded and all was well. Not so well when she made land at home and the captain had to explain his actions to the owner and a second captain who worked another of the owners vessels.
Discussions took place in the Haven and the Civil Usage and the owners
other cutter, Phoenix set sail to collect their loot from Cherberg, meanwhile
the owner set about mustering 300 men, 100 wagons and 400 horses to move
the goods from the Avon beach where the cutters traditionally dropped off
their illegal cargos. This massing of manpower did not go unnoticed by
the authorities and a young Excise officer, Noyce, reported the facts to
his boss. Much to Noyce's surprise he was told to go away and that is exactly
what he did taking the information to the military station at Lymington.
On July 13th both the Civil Usage and Phoenix set sail from Cherborg to
Christchurch fully laden with tea and other taxable goods. 24 hours later
they were sighted by the lookout on Hengistbury Head and word reached the
owner to muster his men to action. As the owner reached the beach the sail
of the Resolution, Excise Cutter, came into view and the Civil Usage and
Phoenix approached the narrow channel into Christchurch harbour. The cutters
beached on the Avon beach and as the Resolution made with all haste towards
them the men relieved the cutters of their illicit cargos. The Excise cutter
had to stand off and watch as the last of the unloading took place being
not only out numbered in men but also guns.
Unladen the 2 cutters made safe in Christchurch harbour as the Excise cutter
stood ground in Christchurch Bay, as this took place troops in Lymington
prepared and made their way through the Forest towards the town. The owner
knew that the Captain of the Excise cutter had witnessed all and that his
ships would be seized, to avoid this he ordered his Captains to make ready
to go hback to sea. The Excise Captain pre-empted this and by luck saw
as darkness fell a Royal Navy vessel entering the area, contact was made
and the Excise now having the manpower to enter the Harbour were joined
by one other Excise Vessel. The 3 vessels blockaded the harbour as they
sent their armed seamen in long boats into the harbour.
