SmugglersRock.co.uk
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Description
Smugglers Rock was built in approximately1840. It was built as a temperance inn for the workers at the Alum Works in the village (more information about this below). The stone to build the house (as well as the windmill and Mill House opposite us) was dug out of the ground at the local quarry. Legend has it that the workers left the quarry one lunchtime and when they returned they found that they had hit a natural underground spring which had filled the quarry with water, and so the quarry was abandoned to nature. Our wildlife pond at the front of the house is what was the old quarry, and is now home to our ducks and geese.
This part of the Yorkshire coast is well known for smuggling and there are many secret passageways, particularly in Robin Hood's Bay, to aid the distribution of the contraband brought in by sea. Smugglers Rock was at this time a coaching inn as it is situated on what used to be the main coaching road between Scdarborough and Whitby, and there was a clear view in both directions. In the eastern wall at the front of the house there is a 9"x3" glass window into which a lighted candle would be placed. This was to alert smugglers to the fact that the area was clear of constabulary and that it was safe to bring the contraband up from the beach. There is also allegedly a tunnel from the cellar of Smugglers Rock to the beach (a distance of nearly 3/4 mile and over 600 feet!) - it has not yet been found.
Smugglers Rock was originally known as the Ravenhill Inn and closed at around the time the Alum Works closed (apx. 1862). The original bar rooms of the inn are now our breakfast room and guest lounge. The part of the building which was built as the stables for the inn guests' horses has been converted into two self catering cottages. We have a picture in our hallway showing the meeting of the Staintondale Hunt in 1891 - Smugglers Rock is the house in the picture.
