HISTORY OF DECOYS. | |
| When the ground was dry it was stocked with immense numbers ofhorses, cattle, sheep, and geese ; one man alone, Mr. Pedley says, having sometimes a stock of 2,000 old-brood geese. The Wildmore Fen was chiefly occupied by horses, a particular breed of the latter known as Wildmore Tits being in great request. These animals were generally of a grey colour, not large, and were said to be of Arabian descent. Great numbers of sheep were also depastured in Wildmore Fen, one owner clipping as many as 1,200 sheep in a year. Mr. Pedley says that, in 1793, 40,000 sheep rotted on Holland and Wildmore Fens alone; nor was this the only evil, for the number stolen was incredible ; they were driven off by night in whole flocks. The East Fen, not effectually drained till 1867, had been a morass and bog from the earliest times ; large pools of stagnant water being dispersed throughout it. In Dugdale's time these pools numbered sixtyone, besides many smaller ones, and they were all so connected by channels of water that a boat could pass from one to the other. Close to these pools were the Friskney and Wainfleet Decoys. Mr. Pedley, before quoted, gives an amusing account of the East Fenmen. It appears that in the summer season, when the waters had receded, large districts were exposed, covered with coarse grass called fodder. Every person having a right to this Fen had the privilege of employing two labourers, and with them they would go into the Fen the evening before midsummer-day and lie down to wait for a gun fired exactly at twelve o'clock (midnight), then all would rise and set to work. By mutual agreement all the fodder each party could mow a path round became private property. After completing one circle they hastened to find fresh ground to encircle in like manner, as long as any grass remained unclaimed. After this they completed at leisure the mowing of those parts they had previously cut a path round, and so every one usually obtained an ample supply of food to serve his cattle with throughout the winter. That Lincoln abounded in wildfowl more than other counties in bygone days there is no doubt. The vast bay known as the " Wash," as well as the sluggish rivers that emptied therein, would bring numberless fowl to the shores of the county, afterwards to find their way to the inland marshes and fens, wherein they doubtless nested in immense numbers. In the extreme north of the county the great estuary of the Humber would have a similar effect. | |
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