Dick Turpin, the notorious highwayman, was born in Essex in 1705. The son of a publican, he became a butcher by trade, and in 1733 began stealing cattle after falling upon hard times. He joined a band of housebreakers and livestock thieves, the Gregory Gang, but when a number of the band were arrested, Turpin hid himself in London's East End. While in London he teamed up with another criminal, Robert King. The pair took to the coaching routes around London where they held the travelling gentry (and just about anyone else) at pistol point and robbed them of their valuables, gaining a fearsome reputation into the bargain. During a bungled attempt to arrest the pair, Turpin accidently shot dead his partner's brother and escaped to Epping Forest. Here he was tracked down by woodsman Thomas Morris, and when cornered Turpin murdered him to avoid capture.

Turpin fled north to Lincolnshire, and then to the East Riding of Yorkshire to escape the forces of law and order, and his vengeful former associates. He escaped detection for two years, living under the assumed name of John Palmer (his mother's maiden name) and carrying on an (apparently) legitimate trade in horses and cattle on both banks of the Humber. However in 1739, overcome with rage, Turpin shot a neighbour's cockerel and was arrested, either in Brough or nearby Welton. Historical records show that "Turpin's Cottage" in off Welton Road in Brough was once owned by a John Palmer, and it is believed that this was the home of his girlfriend, to whom he left a gold ring and two pairs of clogs. Legend has it that Turpin was lodging at the Ferry Inn at time of his arrest, and in a vain attempt to escape he jumped the toll gate at the corner of Cave Road on his famous horse Black Bess. Sadly this cannot be true as this turnpike road did not come into existence until 1771, by which time Turpin had been dead 32 years. Another conflicting local legend has it that Dick Turpin actually evaded arrest by leaping through a window of the Green Dragon Inn at Welton, two mile east of Brough.

Whatever the truth about his capture, Turpin was sent to the Debtors' Prison at York. When a letter to his brother-in-law was intercepted, asking him to vouch for him as John Palmer, Turpin's true identity was revealed and he stood trial as Richard Turpin on themore serious charge of stealing a foal. Following a finding of guilty he was publicly hanged at the Tyburn Gallows on what is now York Racecourse, on 7th April 1739. He was buried in Fishergate, York, in St, George's Churchyard, his headstone bearing the simple inscription "R.T. 33". The grave was robbed by bodysnatchers but friends recovered the corpse, burying it with quicklime. A more informative replacement headstone was erected later, and still exists today.

Another legend surrounding Dick Turpin, that of his famous ride from London to York on the mare Black Bess, is also a myth. It is more likely to be an exploit of the rather less well known highwayman John Nevison (1639-84). In 1676 he rode from Gad's Hill in London to York in just 15 hours.

Despite the somewhat romantic tradition that has grown up around Dick Turpin and other highwaymen of the time, the fact is that he was a very brutal thief and cold-blooded murderer. While he was on the run the newspapers of the day described him as "very much marked with the small pox".