HISTORY OF DECOYS. 



179 



There were four pipes, two of which only were in regular use, each 50 

 yards in length. The exact position of this Decoy may be described as on 

 the east side of the railway at Tod Point, between Eston and Redcar, and 

 almost directly opposite the present kennels of the Cleveland Foxhounds. 



Some five-and-twenty years ago this Decoy was very productive, when 

 the Tees Bay and neighbouring marshes were much frequented by wildfowl, 

 as many as 100 Ducks and Wigeon having been taken at once in a single 

 pipe ; though on this occasion, owing to the weight of fowl enclosed, the net 

 broke and the greater number escaped. But after the erection of blast- 



^ :i^ ESCRICK DECOY 



furnaces at Tod Point in 1872, and the proximity of the railway and ken- 

 nels, the wildfowl have deserted the spot, and the Decoy since that date 

 has been abandoned. Nothing now remains but the pool with a few 

 stunted bushes growing near it. 



Escrick Park, 7 m.iles south of York, the seat of Lord Wenlock. 

 There were formerly two Decoys here, one of which, made by old George 

 Skelton, about 1830, with four pipes, was used until the year i860. 

 The formation of an island in the pool operated prejudicially, for fewer 

 fowl were subsequently taken, and it was eventually abandoned. Of the 

 other Decoy, situated in the park, some 200 yards only from the mansion. 



