62 



Lime, and no fishing eoiild take place without the consent 

 of the lords of the manor. Thus Morecambe, or Poulton as 

 it was formerly called, had no free fishery. The enhanced 

 value of the mussel beds through the opening of railway 

 communication became apparent, and led to much friction 

 between the lords of the manor and the fishermen. The 

 former asserted their right to claim rents for permission 

 to remove the mussels, while the latter disputed the 

 existence of any documents tliat gave the lords of the 

 manor control of the fishery. The dispute ended in a 

 trial at Lancaster, when the verdict went in favour of 

 the fishermen being entitled to free fishing. Shortly 

 after this verdict was given, the lords of the manor asked 

 leave io appeal against the decision of the coiirt on the 

 grounds that important evidence had been secured since 

 the tiial. The judge, however, ruled against the lords 

 and from that time onwards the fishing has remained free. 



At the present time considerably over 100 men, or 

 fully one per cent, of the present population of Morecambe 

 are more or less engaged in mussel fishing. At the last 

 census the population was 11,798. 



The following statistics of the mussels sent off by rail 

 during the last five years, are supplied by Mr. Edward 

 Gardner, Honorary Fishery Officer at Morecambe: 



1900-01. 1901-02. 1902-03. 1903-04. 1904-05. 



Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. Cwts. c'wts. 



September ... 2431| ... 20631 ... 6882f ... 4857f ... 3747 



October 7459| ... 61431 ...lOOoli ... 6502^ ... 7817| 



November ... 7334| ... 7244 ... 8761| ... 5787 ... 60861 



December ... 40621; ... 44361 ... 59761 ... 4162 ... 3488 



January 62021 ... 6131f ... 64651 ... 3761 ... 4807| 



February 3880| ... 46591 ... 5495| ... 4240 ... 3931 J 



March 34221 ... 27031 ... 44881 ... 3873 ... 2940f 



April 20981 ... 21411 ... 17111 ... 1533 ... — 



