440 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



pounds for the use of the Corporation. And further agreed 

 that whosoever shall farm the said Decoy shall take no part 

 nor accept a Corporation man or a freeman." 



The results of these regulations do not appear in the data 

 at disposal ; but, on ist July 1707, the Decoy was entered 

 upon by Mr. Roger Gough, at a rental of £^, and under covenant 

 to leave the Decoy in working condition for taking fowl, and 

 to grind his corn at the Doncaster Mills. On 28th May 1714, 

 Mr. Gough was required to " make the Decoy good and 

 justified by the Corporation." 



At the end of Mr. Gough's tenure the following entry 

 appears : — " November 27th 1727. Ordered that the Decoy 

 and the bank leading thereto be let by the Corporation for 

 the term of thirty-one years to such person or persons as will 

 take the same, and make the said Decoy a good and perfect 

 Decoy for the taking of fowl, and to leave the same, with all 

 the nets and other things the same to belonging, paying the 

 rent of ten shillings." 



" January loth 1728. Ordered that a lease be drawn from 

 the Corporation to Mr. Recorder (George Bagshaw, Esq.), and 

 several other gentlemen, of the Decoy and the bank leading 

 thereunto, according to an order of the Corporation, made the 

 27th of November last, to commence from Lady Day next." 



Lord Galway must have been one of the other gentlemen 

 alluded to in the above resolution, for soon after the Decoy 

 was let to the first Lord Viscount Galway, a local magnate, 

 residing at Hodroyd, and a relative of the Marquess of Granby, 

 who also resided in the neighbourhood — hence the following 

 minute : — 



" 25th September 1729. The lease from the Corporation 

 to the Lord Viscount Galway and others of the Decoy having 

 been engrossed and this day read, was by the order of the 

 Corporation sealed with their common seal." 



Lord Galway died in 175 1. 



Finally, in 1772, during the Mayoralty of Mr. Richard 

 Kent, it is noted that " the Decoy was repaired and the walks 

 improved." 



The date was now rapidly approaching that was to terminate 



