Page 137 HISTORY OF DECOYS.

HISTORY OF DECOYS.


Gunton Park, 5 miles NW, of North Walsham.-About the year 1803 or 1804 the second Lord Suffield had a Decoy constructed at Gunton, on a mere of 30 acres. It had three pipes, but has long been dismantled. Hemstead (near the sea-coast), 9 miles SE. of North Walsham, and 2 miles SE. from Holt.-Until the year 1845 there was a very productive Decoy belonging to the Gurney family at Hempstead, within a few miles of the sea. It was for many years worked by Richard Skelton, son of George Skelton of Winterton, who was very successful, sometimes taking as many as 300 or 400 fowl at one drive. The Decoyman who succeeded him continued Decoying until 1845, when, being detected in carrying on an illicit still, hidden in the Decoy wood, by means of which he converted the Pheasants' barley into whisky for his own use, he was summarily dismissed, and the Decoy having fallen out of repair was never afterwards worked. As no Decoy-book was kept, it is not possible to give any particulars concerning the fowl captured, but the number is known to have been very large. Waxham.-Twelve miles ESE. from North Walsham, and some 3 to 4 miles S. of the last-named, was placed the Waxham Decoy, in a large marsh near the sea-coast. This is the Decoy supposed to have been made by Sir William Woodhouse in the reign of James I., who, according to Spelman, was the first person to introduce properly planned Decoys into East Anglia. The marsh is now drained, and the site of the pool planted with osiers. Winterton.-This Decoy, situate a mile N. of East Somerton, 2¼ miles NE. of Martham, and close to the sea, was constructed by old George Skelton, who continued to work it up to the time of his death in January, 1840, when he was succeeded by his son Henry. It has been described by Lubbock in his "Fauna of Norfolk" (2nd ed. p. 138), in the Appendix to which, at P. 221, Mr. Southwell has added several interesting particulars from Lubbock's MSS. It was originally made for Mr. Huntingdon, from whom it passed to the late Mr. Joseph Hume, M. P., whose son some years since disposed of the property to Captain Bird, since which time it has not been worked the proprietor, as in the case of the Mautby and Ranworth Decoys, preferring duck-shooting to Decoying.