8o 



are visible at low tide near the end of Herne Bay Pier to 

 the eastward. At one time they probably formed the 

 principal means of catching fish. There is still an old one 

 in use at Graveney, near Whitstable. It is built of oak 



Qraveney Weirs. 



posts driven in about six feet apart, and standing a height 

 varying from one foot to six feet above the ground at low 

 tide, the spaces being filled in with transverse timber. The 

 weir is shaped like the letter V, with the point out to sea, 

 this pointed end being enclosed like a box, called the 

 "pound" ; the wide end is left open. As the tide recedes, 

 fish in the weir are unable to escape. Large quantities of 

 fish used to be wasted by want of attention in collecting 

 them when caught, and weirs got into bad repute on 

 that account, as they did also for another reason, as the 

 following cutting from the Kentish Gazette of December 3oth 

 to January 3rd, 1786, serves to show : 



