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If
you're born and bred in the county, you can rightfully
claim to be a 'Moonraker'.
But
who were the first Moonrakers?
There
are many communities who lay claim to originating the
story but the one we favour is set in Devizes where
a group of sixteenth century smugglers were forced to
hide their contraband in The Crammer after being surprised
by a visit from the excisemen.
As
a ruse, the smugglers pretended they were attempting
to rake a 'cheese' that had rolled into the water.
The
excisemen, seeing the men were in fact raking the moon's
reflection, left the simple country-folk to their labours
and rode out of town, unaware that the Wiltshire men
were having the last laugh!
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