In a tiny village in the Rochford district lies a modest church steeped in fascinating history, including an association with “King of the Smugglers” William Blyth.
Saint Peter’s stands in the aptly named Church End of Paglesham. The 1,000-year-old church has borne witness to world wars, the Reformation, and its own restoration.
Due to its prime location on the River Roach, leading into the River Crouch and eventually the English Channel, Paglesham was a hotspot for both legal and illegal trade in the 18th century. The local economy boomed from its legitimate oyster-fishing industry, and from smuggling contraband out of Europe.
One character who played a crucial role in the village’s history is William “Hard Apple” Blyth, a smuggler who was also the village grocer and a warden at the parish church.
Born in 1756, Blyth went on to become one of several Paglesham fishermen smugglers who regularly crossed the Channel to Dunkirk to bring back tea, gin, and tobacco, which they sold illegally.
While volunteering at the church, Blyth ran the shop just up the road, which later became the village post office.
During that time, church registers were reported to have gone missing. It is thought Blyth tore pages out of the parish record books to use them in his shop for wrapping up items such as bacon and butter.
Myth and legends surround Blyth, obfuscated by nearly two centuries since his death. For instance, it is said that while in his local pub, the Punch Bowl, Blyth once drank two glasses of wine and then calmly ate the glasses.
When Blyth lay on his deathbed in 1830, he asked a friend to read a chapter from the Bible, and the Lord's Prayer. Then, the old captain said: “I am ready to launch” and died.
Blyth’s final resting place is in the north churchyard, where he is buried alongside his wife and two sons. Their graves can still be found today, next to the village’s only First World War grave.
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