1 6 Corollary, Sect. II. ; Leiyh Station. 



As a corollary to this section it may be sustained : (a) That 

 the physical geography of our Fisheries "District is of primary 

 importance ; (6) that meteorological conditions, z'.e., weather as 

 affecting winds and tides, &c., play a not less secondary part; 

 (c) that one season, say either with severe frost or long con- 

 tinued intense heat and sunshine, or of gloomy, wet, stormy 

 weather, has depressing or elevating effects accordingly on the 

 sensitive minute marine life, and the disastrous or successful 

 sequel of which is only appreciable the following season or 

 seasons ; (d) that paucity or abundance of fish is indissolubly 

 linked with the less appreciable presence or otherwise of the 

 minor (often microscopic) life extant not, therefore, as 

 frequently emphasized, solely owing to objectionable instruments 

 or methods of capture. 



III.-LEIGH AS A FISHING STATION. 



Early History. In the Domesday Book (1086) we learn* 

 that at Leigh there were five " Bordarii," or what corresponded 

 to cottar-fishermen families. They possessed no land for 

 cultivation, and were, in fact, poor free fishermen in their 

 position and ways. These Bordars, truly speaking, represented 

 the nucleus or were the forerunners of the later fishing 

 community of Leigh. It was well-nigh a century and a half 

 after that Henry III. (circa 1220) granted the right of a 

 several fishery in Hadleigh Kay to his great Justiciar, Hubert 

 de Burgh, builder of Hadleigh Castle. Here commences the 

 Leigh fisheries record, which has continued without intermis- 

 sion to the present day. 



The fisheries, &c., frequently reverting to the Crown are 

 heard of in the reign of Edward I. (1280) by his minister fur- 

 nishing fishery accounts, and in 1303 payments for " Kidell " 

 apparatus. Quite a string of dukes and earls possessed the 



* See " History'of the Rochford Hundred," by the late Philip Benton. 



