Dark and mysterious, an intriguing island, just off the mainland at Hannafore, West Looe, so near and yet, so far.  Looking across the narrow channel, with the sea  in any one of it's various  moods, it is easy to transport yourself back to the 12th century and imagine some monks tending the chapel on the highest point of the Island, perhaps they are trimming the light as a beacon for sailors, or maybe preparing for prayers, just as their monastic brothers are doing at Lammana on Hannafore.

Fast forward to the early 1800s, a time of turmoil and uncertainty in France. Whilst in  England, prohibitive revenue laws and poverty are tempting those who live on the coast of Cornwall to become involved in the importation of goods from France without paying the duties....smuggling!

Look again at the Island, it is growing dark, the small white cottage on the Island is now peeping through the trees, then  there were no trees, men had to work by night.  Imagine the Smuggling craft, full of casks of brandy, approaching the Island, stealthily, constantly on the look out for Revenue cutters. Once the rocks around the Island have been negotiated, the cargo is landed and then hidden in caches and caves, known only to the Hoopers, the inhabitants of the island for over 40 years and organisers of a secretive and lucrative trade between the Channel islands and the South west.

                                             A rowing boat pulls for the shore...........