HISTORY OF DECOYS. i2j 



present century, this Decoy, with its fellows in the adjoining parishes, 

 suffered considerably. 



Doubtless this fact prompted the removal of the old Decoyman Skel- 

 ton and his family to Norfolk, as a more suitable county in which to pursue 

 his avocation of catching wildfowl. 



When old George Skelton left Friskney in 1807, his sons William 

 and Henry worked the Decoy till 1845. O" William, at that date, moving 

 to Combe Abbey, Lord Craven's seat in Warwickshire, his son, John 

 Skelton, managed it for Captain Hopkins, and, as stated, continued to do 

 so till i860. 



In Oldfield's " History of Wainfleet," 1829, p. 180, a capital descrip- 

 tion is given of the Decoys at Friskney, and in the adjoining parish of 

 Wainfleet St. Mary's. It runs as follows : — 



" Great as are the advantages arising from the enclosure and drainage, 

 they have in some measure been counterbalanced, as it respects the parish 

 of Wainfleet, by the loss sustained by the Decoys, and the almost total 

 failure of the cranberry harvest. Friskney was at one time noted for the 

 number and magnitude of its Decoys, and for the immense number of wild- 

 fowl caught in them. London was at that period principally supplied with 

 Duck, Wigeon, and Teal from the Decoys in this neighbourhood. 



" In one season, a few winters prior to the enclosure of the Fens (1809) 

 ten Decoys, five of which were in the parish of Wainfleet, furnished the 

 astonishing number of 31,200 wildfowl for the markets of the Metropolis. 

 Since the enclosure, the number caught has been comparatively small. 

 Only three Decoys remain, two in Friskney (the other Decoy in Friskney 

 was the property of the Ward family), and one in Wainfleet St. Mary's, 

 and the Decoymen consider 5,000 birds as a good season." 



In this parish, besides the above, there were formerly yi;//;- Decoys 

 within a very short distance of each other, owned by T. and J. Williams, 

 Richard Skelton, and Thomas Dodds (two), respectively, of which the one 

 above described, and owned by George Skelton, was the most northern. 



Hagnaby. — In this parish there was one Decoy, owned by Thomas 

 Dowse. 



Wainfleet St. Marys, a parish between Hagnaby and Friskney, in 

 which two Decoys existed, owned by William Bell and Daniel Maidens. 



WrangL-, the next parish, and south-west of Friskney, in which 



