132 EDIBLE BRITISH MOLLUSCA. 



was an oyster- fishery in Poole Bay, and that though 

 the town of Poole claimed much dominion in this bay, 

 the Lord of Corfe Castle had a power and jurisdiction, 

 as Admiral by Water and Land, on the seas round the 

 Isle of Purbeck, on the high seas, and throughout the 

 whole island, in pursuance of a grant by Queen Eliza- 

 beth to Sir Christopher Hatton. The fishermen of 

 Wareham, upon paying a small fine to the Lord of Corfe 

 Castle, have a right also to fish in these waters. A 

 considerable oyster-fishery was carried on at Poole, 

 which supplied the London markets for two months 

 every season, and no less than forty sloops and boats 

 were employed, during which time the receipts 

 were between 6000 and 7000. The last day's 

 catching, by a prescriptive regulation, was thrown into 

 the channels in the harbour, where the oysters were 

 left to fatten, and supply the town and neighbouring 

 county during the winter. In digging a dock at Ham, 

 opposite the harbour, in 1747, a large bed of oyster- 

 shells was found, six feet and a half thick, regularly 

 piled up. This bed had been formed by the fishermen, 

 who deposited the shells after they had taken out the 

 fish for pickling, &c., without breaking the ligatures ; 

 this was the custom in the 17th century, which in 1640 

 and 1670, induced the Corporation (who imagined that 

 such encumbrances might injure the channel) to cause 

 the fishermen to open their oysters in the boats, and 

 throw the shells on the strand, by which that hill of 

 shells was raised, which at high water is surrounded by 

 the sea, and called " Oyster bank."* 



The late Duke of Northumberland introduced oyster 



* * Topographical and Historical Description of the County of Dorset/ 

 by John Britton, Esq., and Mr. E. W. Brayley, pp. 413, 414. 



