INDUSTRIES 



to the fishery in the Derwent from Pennant, 

 Camden, Denton, Leland and others, one of 

 whom describes ' Wyrekinton as oppidum 

 piscatorium.' Camden l says : ' After these 

 rivers are united, the Derwent falls into the 

 sea at Workington, famous for the salmon 

 fishing. It is now the seat of the family of 

 theCurwens.' Leland's description * is: 'Also 

 on the west syde of Darwent is a prety crcke, 

 wher as shyppes cum to, wher ys a lytle prety 

 fyssher town cawled Wyrkenton, and ther is 

 the chefe howse of Sir Thomas Curwyn.' 

 Pennant says : ' The Derwent washes the 

 skirts of the town and discharges itself into 

 the sea about a mile west.' It may be 

 mentioned here that no reference is ever 

 made to the use of the haf or haaf net so 

 common at the head of the Solway. Doubt- 

 less the mouth of the river has never lent it- 

 self to the use of this net any more than it 

 does now. Striking the fish with leisters in 

 the tideway was always a favourite method 

 of fishing, and was in vogue in 1785 on the 

 whole of the Solway coast. In 1755 the 

 Gentleman 's Magazine makes reference to 

 the value of salmon, ' which,' observes this 

 anonymous writer, ' at their markets sells 

 from three halfpence to twopence a pound ; 

 but the people have so little notion of dress- 

 ing it to advantage that they throw away the 

 livers, and eat the fish without having so much 

 as a little melted butter for sauce. If any re- 

 main unsold after the market is over, they cut 

 it in pieces and salt it, putting it up close in 

 a pot or earthen vessel, to be eaten as winter 

 provision with potatoes or parsnips.' This 

 anonymous writer apparently did not know 

 that the Workington men sent their fish ' up 

 to London upon horses, which changing often, 

 go night and day without intermission, and, 

 as they say, out-go the post, for that the fish 

 come very sweet and good to London, where 

 the extraordinary price they yield, from 2s. 6d. 

 to 4*. per pound, pays very well for the car- 

 riage. They do the same from Carlisle.' 

 In view of the bad roads which had to be 

 traversed this method of marketing fish implies 

 that those engaged in the industry were men 

 of enterprise. 



Clarke stated in 1787 that salmon never 

 entered Derwentwater, but as they were found 

 in Borrowdale this must be a mistake, and 

 probably arose from the difficulty of observ- 

 ing fish in the lake. Pennant writing of the 

 Derwent says that salmon 



come up the river from the sea about Michaelmas, 

 and force their way through both lakes as far as 



1 Britannia (ed. Gibson) ii. 1008. 



2 Itinerary (ed. Hearne) vii. 49. 



Borrowdale. They had lately been on their re- 

 turn, but the water near the (Ouze) bridge proving 

 too shallow to permit them to proceed, they were 

 taken by dozens, in very bad order, in the nets 

 that were drawing for trout at the end of the lake. 



The author of Observations chiefly Lithological 

 wrote in 1804 : 



The lake of Derwentwater has no char in it ; 

 only perch, or bass, as it is here called, eels, pike 

 and trout ; and the salmon which pass through the 

 lakes of Derwent and Bassanthwaite from the river 

 Cocker to spawn in the winter season. In the 

 month of May the salmon smelts, or fry, as they 

 are called, are on their way to the ocean. They 

 may then be very easily caught. They are 

 esteemed a great delicacy. 



Hutchinson speaking of Workington says: 



The salmon fishery on the river Derwent is 

 considerable. Mr. Curwen's tenant has the 

 draught from the High Pier and on the Quay ; 

 Lord Lonsdale's tenant draws from the Mer- 

 chants' Quay up to Cammerton, about four 

 miles in length. The sea coast fishery is farmed 

 of Mr. Curwen by Richard Graham, who gives 

 us the following account of his method of taking 

 salmon, which he calls salmon hunting : 'The 

 salmon hunter is armed with a spear of three 

 points barbed, having a shaft fifteen feet in length. 

 When the fish is left by the tide, intercepted 

 by shallows or sand banks, near the mouth of 

 the river, or at any inlets on the shore, where 

 the water remains from one foot to four feet in 

 depth, or when their passage is obstructed by nets, 

 they shew where they lie by the agitation of the 

 pool ; when my horse is going at a swift trot or a 

 moderate gallop, belly deep in the water, I make 

 ready my spear with both hands, and at the same 

 time hold the bridle ; when I overtake the salmon, 

 I let go one hand, and with the other strike with 

 the spear, and seldom miss my stroke, but kill my 

 fish ; then with a turn of my hand I raise the 

 salmon to the surface of the water, turn my horse's 

 head the readiest way to shore, and so run the 

 salmon on to dry land without dismounting. In 

 the fishery I am establishing at Workington, in the 

 proper season, by different modes, I can kill, one 

 day with another, one hundred salmon a day ; 

 methods of my own invention I intend to put in 

 practice, which never were practised before in any 

 part of the world ; I have tried them, and they 

 answer, and when known, they may become a 

 public good. I can take the fish up at sea in ten 

 fathom water. A man in the ordinary way of 

 salmon hunting, well mounted, may kill forty or 

 fifty in a day ; ten salmon is not a despicable day's 

 work for a man and a horse. My father was the 

 first man I ever heard of who could kill salmon on 

 horseback.' 



Our correspondent then offers a wager of 100 

 guineas that at this time he will kill more salmon 

 on horseback in one day than any three men in 

 England. He adds : 



The most noted places for killing salmon on 

 horseback are the rivers Eden and Esk ; from 



413 



