The Cotswolds’ Illicit Tobacco Cultivation in the 17th Century

by Will Simpson & Jim McNeill

Four centuries ago a group of farmers from the West Of England decided to see if they could make a living for themselves by growing tobacco. This put them at odds with the English state and its imperial ambition to build a merchantile economy driven by indentured and slave labour. This is their story of resistance. Fair-trade home-grown tobacco? Put that in yer pipe and smoke it!

Bristol Radical Pamphleteer
12 pages
Black and White