A HISTORIC Bodmin Moor inn is scouring the country for smuggling artefacts.

Jamaica Inn, perched high on isolated Bodmin Moor, was a notorious centre for smuggling in the 18th and 19th centuries and subsequently became the focus for Daphne Du Maurier's top selling book and the famous film of the same name.

Now the inn is to revamp its museum of smuggling and is looking for additional objects that illustrate this exciting period of British history.

"Smuggling played a large part in the British economy in year's gone past," said Jamaica Inn's Managing Director Kevin Moore. "And, as tradition holds, it was all very exciting stuff with boats arriving in the dead of night and men with horses transporting goods over secret paths across the misty moors. There was great support from the public who saw many of the taxes as unjust and smuggling developed into a culture of the time."

The museum is expected to become a big tourist draw for visitors to the south west and it is also already attracting interest from school parties and educationalists.

"While smuggling, like pirates, is a popular story theme for the young there is also a serious side involving the economy of Britain at the time, its trade and its law makers and enforcers. The more we find out, the more we realize smuggling played a huge role in the history of this country," said Kevin.

If anyone has any artefacts or unusual information about smuggling in Britain, the Jamaica Inn would be delighted to hear about it. The inn can be contacted on [email protected]">[email protected] or call 01935 842094.