Page 124 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.

THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS.
Wrangle, the next parish, and south-west of Friskney, in which three Decoys were worked, one by Richard Alford and two by T. and J. Williams respectively. The pool nearest the sea was known as the "shore" or "Old Tom Williams's" Decoy, as it was worked for him for many years before he removed to the Lakenheath Decoy in Suffolk, and where he is said to have died at the age of 109 Leake, the parish next to Wrangle on its west side. There was a pool here which was out of use at the end of the last century, and is marked on the drainage maps of that date as "an ancient Decoy." The Decoys in the four last-named parishes ceased to exist early in the present century. All the Decoys now described in this county are south of Lincoln. Those to follow are north of that town. Skellingthorpe Decoy, 2 miles W. of Lincoln and a mile SSE. of Skellingthorpe, between the catchwater drain and the main drain. This Decoy was a square pond with four pipes, and the form of it can easily be discerned, though it has not been in use for 40 years. Burton Hall Decoy.-The residence of Lord Monson, a mile SSW. of South CarIton and 3 miles NW. of Lincoln, on the E. side of the main and catchwater drains. The owner informs me that the site of the Decoy has been ploughed up, and that no traces of it now remain. South Carlton Decoy, also on the property of Lord Monson, and of which traces are still to be seen. This pool is on the W. bank of the catchwater and main drains, is a mile W. of the Burton Hall Decoy, and 3½ miles NW. of Lincoln. Neither of these Decoys have been in use since the beginning of the present century. South Kelsey Decoy, 1¼ miles NW. of South Kelsey, on the southern side of Kelsey Carrs, near, the N. bank of the Caistor Canal. Long disused. FaIsthorpe Decoy, 2 miles SE. of Alford, in Farlsthorpe Fen, halfway between Alford and Mumby. All these old Lincolnshire Decoys were, with a few exceptions, destroyed by the Drainage Acts of 1795, 1807, and 1809, the Skellingthorpe one holding out the longest, being worked till 1840. One by one their avocation was destroyed, the means of sustenance being taken from them as the fens in their inmost recesses became cultivated.