File:The birds of Yorkshire - being a historical account of the avi-fauna of the County (1907) (14568708839).jpg

Identifier: birdsofyorkshire02nels (find matches)
Title: The birds of Yorkshire : being a historical account of the avi-fauna of the County
Year: 1907 (1900s)
Authors: Nelson, Thomas Hudson, d. 1916 Clarke, William Eagle, 1853-1938 Boyes, F
Subjects: Birds -- England Yorkshire
Publisher: London : A. Brown
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
were a few stunted trees and , the relics of the shrubbery
that sheltered the pool from the north, and stumps of posts
to which the hoops spanning the pipes had been fixed. Even
these have now disappeared and the pipes are scarcely dis-
cernible. On the summit of Yearby Bank, four miles south of Redcar,
and one mile from Kirkleatham, also on Mr. Newcomen's
estate, is a marshy pond, almost grown up with vegetation,
and surrounded by trees, called the Old Decoy, but no records
exist as to its origin, or whether it was ever in actual operation.
Of the two Decoys now in use one is at Hornby Castle,
and the other at Thirkleby Park.
HORNBY.—In the park at Hornby Castle, five miles
north-west of Bedale, are two Decoy Ponds, one disused, and
the other, until 1885, the only example of a Decoy in use
in the county. The original Decoy was constructed for the
seventh Duke of Leeds, in 1854. It is seven acres in extent,
and has the remains of four pipes. In 1882, the present
Duke moved the materials of the pipes from the old Decoy
Text Appearing After Image:

Faith, the Decoy man, taking ducks out of the net at Coatham Decoy.

See page 448. From a drawing by Alfred Lancaster, 1850.

DECOYS. 449

to their new position. The original Decoy is situated south
of the Castle, between the Stone Pond and the present Decoy,
which is now in the Blessington plantation close by.
The new pipes were excavated under the direction of
Lord Fitzhardinge's Decoyman, from Berkeley Castle. The
new pool is about sixty yards square, and the pipes are at
the corners. The old Decoy was found to be too large, the
fowl keeping out of reach of the pipes and of the Decoyman.
The new Decoy, being much smaller, is more easily managed.
The first pipe made at Hornby on the old Decoy was made
by Harrison, Captain Healey's Decoyman at Ashby in Lincoln-
shire. Soon after T. Gilbert Skelton made another at the
north-west angle of the lake, and lastly old George Skelton
(junior) and the Rev. M. Foimtaine added a third and fourth
in 1856. Finally, in 1882 as stated, the present Duke of Leeds
removed the netting, screens, and hoops to the new Decoy
hard by, and completed it with four pipes.
This Decoy averages from 300 to 400 Ducks per season

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