HISTORY OF DECOYS ( continued ). | |
CHAPTER XII. | |
DECOYS IN THE COUNTY OF SOMERSET. | |
| MANY years ago Somerset was a famous county for wildfowl, and must have almost rivalled Lincoln, Norfolk, and Essex in this respect. In these days of reclamation and cultivation Somerset is fairly well stocked with fowl, such as Ducks and Teal; much more so, in fact, than any other English counties save those on the eastern coast. Somerset has an extensive seaboard of between 50 and 60 miles, reaching from the border of Gloucester to that of Devon. This frontage of water consists of the Bristol Channel, which abounds in suitable places to attract and collect wildfowl. Hence many of such birds still find their way to inland parts of the county-to spots that tempt them to rest and feed without disturbance. The immense tract of wild land that can be seen NW. of Glastonbury by any one ascending the Tor, and which extends from that eminence to the sea-coast, as well as on the western side of the Polden H ills, being especially haunted by the Duck species. At the beginning of the century this flat was still partially uncultivated and subject in winter to frequent floods that almost gave it the appearance of a sea. It consisted of 15 square miles of marsh and wet reed-grown meadows. The corners of the square might be taken as Wells, Langport, Uphill, and Lilstock, and it extended across the county from near the foot of the Mendip Hills to near the Quantock Range. Midway the Polden Hills rise from the level country. To the N. and N E. of these is the Brue Level, a swampy plain between the Rivers Bure and Axe. To the NW., W. and SW. of the Polden Hills the sluggish River Parrot flows through the large area of low land known as Kings Sedgemoor 15,000 acres), so named from the Battle of Sedgemoor, which was fought in and around this, as it then was, morass. | |
Index List of Illustrations