HISTORY OF DECOYS. | |
| It was admirably placed, as the neighbouring estuary of the Humber, a vast extent of water and ooze, was then the resort of immense congregations of wildfowl, and is even now in hard weather. There is at this date no trace of the Decoy, though on some maps a "Decoy Creek" is marked. Sunk Island is in the southern division of Holderness in East Yorkshire, on the north bank of the Humber, and 12 miles SE. by E. from Hull. This island was gradually reclaimed from the sea ; 200 years ago it consisted of but 800 acres, and a broad navigable channel separated it from the mainland, over 2 miles in width. Now (1885) the so-called island (for the channel has disappeared long since) comprises 7,000 acres of Crown land in a high state of valuable cultivation. In 1829 Allen describes Sunk Island as containing 4,000 acres. Thorne Waste is 4 miles S. of Goole, and in the West Riding of Yorkshire. There existed a productive Decoy here, north of the Keadby Canal, on the moor some 2 miles west of Crowle, which small town is situated on what is known as the Isle of Axholme, at its NW. extremity, near the River Don, just over the border of Yorkshire, in Lincolnshire. There are no records of the Decoy or its successes, but Mr. Henry Ellis, of The Manor House, Crowle, distinctly recollects it in use, and to him I am indebted for what few notes I can supply of it, as well as for the interesting account of Thorne Waste appended. In 1836 the Decoy was in full work; it ceased to be used about the year 1840 as by that time a considerable extent of the moor had been drained. The Decoy was an acre in extent, and had three pipes as well as a Decoyman's hut close by. Its site is now almost undistinguishable, and is covered with small beech-trees, and various mosses and other products of the moor; but Mr. Ellis tells me that, knowing its exact position, he has no difficulty in finding it. | |
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