A Legacy of Smuggling and Legend

High on the brooding Bodmin Moor, the Smuggling Museum at Jamaica Inn is a treasure trove of contraband tales and clandestine adventures. Its centrepiece, The History of Jamaica Inn film, draws you into Cornwall’s tempestuous past, where crashing waves and government taxes conspired to birth a smuggler’s paradise.

Smuggling in Cornwall took root in the 13th century but hit full sail in the 18th century, when steep import duties made everyday luxuries unaffordable. Tea, silk, brandy and tobacco became illicit currency, and Cornwall’s rugged coastline, with its hidden coves, echoing sea caves, and fog-thick nights was the perfect place to land them under cover of darkness. Smugglers weren’t just desperate rogues, they were often local heroes, fishermen by day, moonlit mariners by night.

Entire villages would rally round: lookouts posted on headlands, church bells chiming coded warnings, and even clergy known to enjoy a duty-free dram. Some say that half the brandy drunk in England bypassed the taxman entirely. One smuggler, when caught, famously quipped, “I merely adjusted the law to suit local needs.”

Jamaica Inn, remote and enveloped in mist, served as the perfect hideaway for stashed goods awaiting onward travel to London, Bristol or a quiet village inn far inland.

In these wild and weather-beaten stories, the line between law and livelihood blurred. The Smuggling Museum captures it all, with charm, wit, and a nod to the rebels who defied the Crown with a wink and a rowboat.

Daphne du Maurier was born in London in 1907, the second daughter of Muriel and Gerald du Maurier. Born into a talented, theatrical and artistic family, she was blessed from an early age with a vivid imagination and a desire to write.
This desire was nurtured further by her immediate love for Cornwall, after her parents purchased a holiday home at Bodinnick near Fowey on the coast.
It was whilst staying there, at the house re-named Ferryside, she wrote her first novel The Loving Spirit (published in 1931). A story set in the fictitious town of Plyn, it was woven around the lives of local Cornish boat builders and their history.

In 1932 Daphne du Maurier married Major Frederick Browning and in 1943 while he was at war, she moved to Cornwall with their three children. Browning was Commander of the 1st Airborne Division in Operation Market Garden in September 1944, portrayed controversially in film by Dirk Bogarde. He is credited with the famous phrase, in the planning of the operation, ‘We may be going a bridge too far’. He was knighted in 1946 and ended his military career with the rank of Lieutenant-General.

Daphne went on to become one of the most successful authors of her time. Her most famous works include Rebecca, Frenchman’s Creek, My Cousin Rachel, The Birds and of course, her first big commercial success, Jamaica Inn.

She was created a Dame in 1969, making her Lady Browning; Dame Daphne du Maurier DBE, but she never used the title.

Daphne du Maurier’s passing in 1989 was a great loss, both to literature and to Cornwall. In memory of her, a room was created here at Jamaica Inn which is full of memorabilia, including her Sheraton writing desk on top of which is a packet of the du Maurier cigarettes named after her father. There’s also a dish of Glacier Mints – Dame Daphne’s favourite sweets.

Some of her books were turned into very successful films including Rebecca, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as well as The Birds, starring Tippi Hendren and Rod Taylor. The 1939 film of Jamaica Inn starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara featured a new ending, apparently demanded by Laughton, which Daphne deplored. All three films were directed by Alfred Hitchcock. During her career Daphne du Maurier wrote a total of thirty-eight books, but it is the Cornish-based novels that remain the most popular with her readers.

Ghosts

Jamaica Inn is now available to be hired for paranormal investigations; either as a member of the public, as part of a team, corporate team building, or filming for YouTube channels and paranormal related documentaries. For more information, please click the paranormal tab above, or email ghosthunts@jamaicainn.co.uk.
For many years, staff and guests alike, have reported strange things happening at the Jamaica Inn. These occurances happen during daylight hours as well as late into the night.

In 2004 ‘Most Haunted’ aired their Jamaica Inn episode. They are quoted to have said that it was one of their ‘spookiest episodes they had ever recorded!’
Previous managers of Jamaica Inn have heard conversations uttered in a foreign tongue. Some have suggested this ‘foreign’ language could in fact be old Cornish.

Disembodied Sounds

On a moonlit night, when all is still, the sound of horses’ hooves and the metal rims of wheels turning on rough gravel can be heard in the courtyard, (the cobbles in the front courtyard, were laid in the 1950s). Yet there is nothing to be seen!

The sounds of barrels being rolled outside have also been heard, along with the echo of a lone horseman riding at speed, before coming to a halt at the front of the Inn.

Who can explain the disembodied footsteps heard pacing the hallway outside rooms 3 to 6 in the dead of night? But when the door is opened, there is no one there and the motion activated lights all of a sudden turn on.

Who is the gentleman wearing a tricorne hat and cloak, who appears in front of guests before walking through solid doors?

Murder At The Inn

Many years ago a stranger stood at the bar enjoying a tankard of ale. Upon being summoned outside, he left the half-finished ale and stepped out into the night. That was the last time he was seen alive. The next morning his corpse was found on the bleak moor, but the manner of his death and the identity of his assailant still remain a mystery.

Previous landlords, upon hearing footsteps tramping along the passage to the bar, believe it is the dead man’s spirit returning to finish his drink.

In 1911 there was much interest and correspondence in the press concerning a strange man who had been seen by many people, sitting on the wall outside the Inn. He neither spoke nor moved nor acknowledged a greeting, but his appearance was uncannily like the murdered stranger. Could this be the dead man’s ghost? And what strange compulsion drove it to return to the same spot so often?

Our Youngest Spirits

Some of our favourite spirits here at the Jamaica Inn are mischievous children. Guests and staff have seen our Victorian little girl, with gorgeous long blonde curly hair. She frequents all areas of the Inn, and her giggles can often be heard.

Another of our favourites is a little boy, we affectionately call ‘Tommy’. He appears to be aged around five or six years old, and has been seen in the museum, the ladies toilets, and of course bedroom five.