176 THE BOOK OF DUCK DECOYS. 



HISTORY OF D'^COY'^—icontmued). 



CHAPTER XV. 



Decoys in the County of York. 

 Yorkshire did not, like Norfolk, Suflblk, Lincoln, and Essex, boast 

 many Decoys, as only a small area of its surface was adapted to attract 

 wildfowl. 



This portion was Holderness, in the East Riding, a district bounded 

 on the east by the German Ocean, on the south by the H umber, on the 

 west by the divisions of Hunsley and Bainton Beacon, and on the north 

 by the wapentake of Dickering. Here were situated the principal Decoys 

 of the county, in the valley of the River Hull. 



The fens of Holderness were 20 miles in length, and from 4 to 6 

 miles in breadth, and extended from 7 miles south of Bridlington to the 

 estuary of the Humber towards Patrington and Hedon, widening in their 

 course as they approached the tide. 



The drainage of these fens was first undertaken on the eastern side of 

 the River Hull (where Meaux Decoy then flourished) in 1762, and an Act 

 of Parliament was obtained to enable the promoters of the scheme to do 

 so. Next came the " Beverley and Barmston Drainage Act," in 1 798, 

 parallel to the last but opposite, on the west side of the River Hull. Then, 

 in 1800, the " Hertford and Derwent Drainage Act" still further reclaimed 

 the low marsh lands that bordered on Holderness, and a short time previous 

 to the last Act Spalding Moor, to the west of Holderness (on which was 

 Holme Decoy), and Walling Fen were drained and cultivated by private 

 enterprise. 



In all 50,000 acres of fen, at a cost of ^190,000, were reclaimed in 

 this division of Yorkshire. 



Excepting Holderness no part of the county in former times was 

 resorted to by wildfowl in large numbers. 



As Yorkshire consists of so much arable land, mountain and heather, 



