 No
3 the High street is the red brick building on the left of the two houses
in the photograph and is situated on the corner of Darkhouse Lane.
This is the house of the infamous Robert Martin who was
considered the most successful revenue collector on the east coast.
In 1741 he contracted and actually captained, the much feared (by
smugglers that is) "Wivenhoe Smack" and at the peak of
his career, contracted 8 vessels to patrol from Colchester, Harwich and
the Medway. When our Bob was about there wasn't a lot of smuggling
going on. . I bet there was a huge sigh of relief when he
eventually moved out of the village to a smart manor house near Clacton
on Sea.
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