It\u2019s a brutal story of misdeeds, double-crossing and murder. As such, it\u2019s a tale that\u2019s ripe for the small-screen treatment, which it\u2019s received courtesy of a three-part BBC Two drama, The Gallows Pole<\/em>, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shane Meadows and based on the award-winning novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers.<\/p>\n The act of manufacturing counterfeit coins had occurred ever since metal coins were first introduced and accepted as common currency. Most who were caught and convicted of the crime tended to work alone or as part of a small outfit. Counterfeiting gold and silver coinage was outlawed by a 1696 Act of Parliament and, as a mark of the seriousness of the offence, it carried the same punishment as that imposed on someone found guilty of plotting to have the sovereign killed: death.<\/p>\n But the Cragg Vale Coiners, based on the high ground of the Calder Valley between Leeds and Manchester, feared no law and took the practice to a never-seen before level. They ran a sophisticated and layered operation involving a great many people in the local area.<\/p>\n Highly organised, they were highly disciplined, too. Should anyone involved in the operation even think of breaking rank and jeopardising the entire enterprise, the upper ranks of the pyramid would be swift to intervene, either with warnings of violence against the perpetrator or actual acts of physical harm. These were ruthless, unsentimental men. As one of the gang\u2019s acolytes in Myers\u2019 novel observes, \u201ccross the Coiners and dig your plot\u201d.<\/p>\n The enterprise was headed by \u2018King David\u2019 Hartley, a local man who, with his family, lived in a very remote farmhouse, Bell House, on very remote moorland. Along with his brothers Isaac and William, the gang\u2019s first recruits were his neighbours on adjacent farms. Like most other farmers in the area, these were desperate men in search of alternative sources of income.<\/p>\n The slopes of Cragg Vale, a valley within a valley, are steep and sharp. The topography ensured that earning a living solely through farming in the 18th century was a precarious business. Many farmers had diversified, splitting their working lives between agriculture and weaving, with looms taking up space in their farmhouses. But while the wool industry of the West Riding prospered during the Seven Years\u2019 War<\/a> thanks to the demand for worsted yarn used in the manufacture of military uniforms, the war\u2019s end in 1763 brought hard times for the industry\u2019s workers. Money was needed from other means in order to survive.<\/p>\n The Cragg Vale gang\u2019s particular modus operandi favoured the hard-up locals. Where other counterfeiters sent coins of an inferior standard, made from base metals, back into circulation, Hartley\u2019s operation maintained the purity of the new coins.<\/p>\n Dealing almost exclusively in golden guineas, the gang filed down or clipped the coins\u2019 edges and collected the shavings. The original coins went back into circulation, but only a little smaller in size to avoid anyone noticing. The shavings were melted down to produce new coins, which were then stamped with a design \u2013 usually of a Portuguese nature, as Portuguese moidores were the most valuable of the foreign coins that were, at the time, legal tender.<\/p>\n Through local businesses, most notably the area\u2019s many inns and hostelries run by publicans happy to conspire with the fraud, the coins were now in general use. Also, the healthy amount of trade coming into the area from elsewhere ensured that a good supply of full-size guineas flowed in, eventually making their way up to Bell House.<\/p>\n These intact guineas came via local hands. By lending the gang coins, the citizens of the surrounding villages were rewarded financially. After the coins had had their edges shaved, these lenders had their original coins returned, plus a small amount of interest. The interest came from the value of the shaved metal, soon to be smelted and forged into coins again. Everyone benefitted. It was a victimless crime.<\/p>\n The financial institutions wouldn\u2019t have agreed. Estimations of the extent of the gang\u2019s operation suggests that the value of the counterfeit coins put into circulation may have been as much as \u00a33.5 million, the equivalent of more than \u00a3500 million today. Their activities ended up devaluing the pound by nearly 10 per cent, a drop that put the solvency of the British economy in peril. The coiners\u2019 operation would eventually be debated in the Houses of Parliament as politicians sought to avoid copy-cat enterprises, \u201cto prevent the mischief to which the public are thus exposed\u201d.<\/p>\n That was to come. For now, the Cragg Vale gang needed to be stopped. But their identity remained elusive, with law enforcement in such a remote, often meteorologically hostile location as the Hartleys\u2019 corner of the Calder Valley non-existent. The brothers and their associates continued to prosper, unencumbered by suspicion and far from the prying eyes of both nosey parkers and the authorities.<\/p>\n Born in 1730, \u2018King David\u2019 Hartley was undeniably the leader of the Cragg Vale gang. He is said to have served as an apprentice ironworker in the Black Country, where he initially became involved with clipping and forging coins, but returned to his native Cragg Vale concerned that his illegal activities might be easily discovered in the city.<\/p>\n His exceedingly remote farm, high on a windswept moor, was perfect for resuming his coining business. Along with his younger brothers Isaac and William \u2013 who, in line with his \u2018King David\u2019 nickname, were respectively known as the Duke of York and the Duke of Edinburgh \u2013 he ruled his coin kingdom firmly.<\/p>\n A serious, intense person (in The Gallows Pole<\/em>,\u00a0his novelisation of the\u00a0gang\u2019s story, Benjamin Myers writes\u00a0of a \u201cseldom-seen smile\u201d), Hartley was a brutal man, not unaccustomed to using fists and force to bend others to his will. It\u2019s inaccurate to paint him as an altruistic, charming Robin Hood<\/a> figure; that he forged a network of allies and associates was probably less to do with charisma and more with intimidation.<\/p>\n But Hartley was smart. Taking advantage of his formidable local reputation, as long as everyone around him was benefitting financially, his enterprise was relatively secure. As Myers writes, \u201cthe valley folk mythologised this gang leader whose behaviour they saw no harm in, so long as there was food on their tables and logs in their log stores\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> From his lofty position, high above everyone else, \u2018King David\u2019 could gaze down on all that he was controlling. He was the area\u2019s unofficial royalty. Although newspapers in Leeds had already speculated that a group of coiners near Halifax were producing counterfeit guineas, it took one of the gang themselves, James Broadbent, choosing to become an informant for the authorities to become aware of the Cragg Vale gang\u2019s existence.<\/p>\n Wronged and ridiculed by the domineering \u2018King David\u2019, Broadbent met with William Dighton, the official who oversaw matters of excise for Halifax and the surrounding area. A reward of 100 guineas was offered in return for Broadbent detailing the depth of the criminality of the eldest Hartley brother and one of his closest associates, James Jagger. Broadbent, a figure on the fringes of the gang, took the bait, disclosing that he had personally witnessed the pair engaged in illegal coining activities. Dighton had his evidence, but failed to keep his end of the deal. Broadbent never saw the money; his decision to break ranks brought no reward<\/p>\n In mid-October 1769, \u2018King David\u2019 Hartley was tracked down to the Old Cock Inn in Halifax and duly arrested. Dighton, armed with Broadbent\u2019s evidence, now believed that the gallows at York would be \u201chonoured with the weight of royal blood\u201d.<\/p>\n But if he thought that removing the lynchpin, the \u2018monarch\u2019, would mean the collapse of the gang, he was sorely deluded. Instead, the coiners were out to avenge their leader\u2019s capture and planned a demise of their own: that of Dighton himself. The murder was arranged in an alehouse in Mytholmroyd, the nearest village to Bell House. Isaac Hartley was the author of the conspiracy. He offered the would-be killers 100 guineas from his own pocket, matching the amount Dighton had dangled before Broadbent.<\/p>\n The job of ridding the gang of Dighton\u2019s attentions forever fell to two local farm labourers, Matthew Normanton and Robert Thomas. On 10 November 1769, the excise man was murdered near his home in Halifax, dispatched with a bullet to the head. The cold-blooded assassination of a public official forced the government into further action.<\/p>\n The former prime minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, aka the Marquess of Rockingham, was placed in charge of the manhunt for Dighton\u2019s killers. The marquess was ruthlessly efficient in his search. By Christmas, 30 members of the Cragg Vale gang had been rounded up and were in custody.<\/p>\n Robert Thomas had been arrested on suspicion of his involvement that November night in Halifax but, pleading that he hadn\u2019t fired the fatal bullet, wasn\u2019t charged with Dighton\u2019s murder. However, he was found guilty of highway robbery, having stolen valuables from the dead man\u2019s still-warm body. He was hanged in York in August 1774 and his body transferred to Halifax where it was put on display to deter anyone else who might be considering a similar line of work.<\/p>\nWho were the Cragg Vale Coiners?<\/h2>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> Should anyone involved in the operation even think of breaking rank, the upper ranks of the pyramid would be swift to intervene <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
Counterfeiting new coins<\/h3>\n
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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>How were the Cragg Vale Coiners stopped?<\/h2>\n
David Hartley: \u2018King\u2019 of the Cragg Vale Coiners<\/h2>\n
The cunning \u2013 occasionally violent \u2013 leader was not a man to be messed with<\/h6>\n
Estimations of the extent of the gang\u2019s operation suggests that the value of the counterfeit coins put into circulation may have been as much as \u00a33.5 million, the equivalent of more than \u00a3500 million today <\/blockquote> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n<\/div>
What happened to the Cragg Vale gang?<\/h2>\n
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