PEDDARS PIRATES

Neil Holmes' book, The Lawless Coast (Larks Press), full of tales of piratical derring-do and anarchy, particularly in north Norfolk in the 1780s, was published in 2008, but I have only just managed to lay my hands on a copy.
It is a splendid piece of work, and I was particularly interested in his summary of the life of Thomas Franklyn, who by 1779 had established a formidible zone of authority along the coastline of north-west Norfolk. Born in poverty in King's Lynn, and without any education, Franklyn quickly became involved in the smuggling trade, and by the 1780s actually employed hundreds of part-time carriers recruited from villages close to the coast. At one stage he claimed to have on his pay-roll 200 men in each of the villages of Old Hunstanton, Holme next the Sea, and Thornham.
According to the author, the final stages of Franklyn's operation involved moving the smuggled consignments inland, and this operation took place as soon as possible after the landings. And the inland route he favoured most was the old Roman road, the Peddars Way.
The various groups, with the contraband, would assemble at Ringstead, and after a long night march of over 40 miles they would meet up with dealers somewhere east of Thetford - on Brettenham or Roudham heaths, perhaps - close to the Suffolk border. 
No-one in nearby villages dared intervene as the long convoys and hundreds of armed men rumbled through, and even the Customs & Excise officers, patrolling with a small number of cavalry, kept their distance, being completely outnumbered.
The destination for the goods from thereon was most usually London, and the London gangs, though some of the consumables evidently found their way back to Cambridge and Norwich.
This use of the Peddars Way as part of a route leading to and from London has occurred to me before, and I have often wondered if Swaffham's famous pedlar, who travelled to London to seek his fortune, actually made use of the same green way, too.