December, 191 5. 



The Irish Naturalist. 



209 



NOTES ON A DECOY IN THE COUNTY OF LOUTH. 



BY G. H. PENTLAND, 



There must have been many decoys in the counties of 

 Louth and Meath in bygone days to judge by the frequency 

 with which the word occurs, but few of them are even 

 recognizable as such, so neglected and overgrown are they. 

 However, there is one very perfect example still in existence, 

 and I think a short description of it would interest many 

 readers of the Irish Naturalist. It lies about half a mile 

 north of the old Jacobean mansion of Beaulieu, three miles 

 east of Drogheda, in a -onely position n the fields, and few 

 people are aware of its existence. The tidal estuary of 

 the Boyne (a great haunt of wildfowl) is nearly a mile away. 

 This decoy (of which I give a plan) is in the middle of a grass 

 field of about 10 statute acres. It is square with a pipe 

 at each corner, and measures 100 yards square. There are 

 four buttresses or piers, one in the middle of each side, each 

 about 9 yards square. There is also a square island of about 

 the same size in the middle of the pond. The pond is 

 surrounded by a smooth grassy bank about 6 yards wide, 

 and quite level all round. This bank seems to have been 

 12 to 18 inches above the surface of the w^ater. Each of the 

 pipes consists of two straight parts connected by an obtuse 

 angle (see plan), and is only about 40 yards long. The 

 field in which the decoy lies is quite square, and was entirely 

 surrounded by a moat about 10 feet wide, with banks 6 or 

 8 feet in height, and containing at least 2 feet of water. 

 Three sides of this moat were taken away, and replaced by an 

 ordinary ditch and bank some forty or fifty years ago, but 

 the north side is still quite perfect. A flat -bottomed boat 

 used to be kept on this moat. It was there in the lifetime 

 of the father of a man who is now living, say, about 1800 or 

 later. The pond is usually dry now (or rather marshy), but 

 water can be let into it at any time, and the whole place is so 

 perfect that it could be put into working order in a week. 



There are some special points of interest about this decoy. 

 The buttresses and the little island are uncommon features. 



