THE DUCK DECOYS OF ESSEX. 217
"Mr. John Cooper, a great Decoyman at Goldhanger, and four
"others, perished." Daniel (Rural Sports, vol. ii., p. 471),
writing in 1802, stated that at the pond of Mr. Buxton at Gold-
hanger in Essex the Pochards taken at one drop have filled a
waggon and that four stout horses were required to pull the
vehicle ; so many were at times taken that the lower birds in
the pens were killed and pressed flat. This statement probably
refers to this decoy. Arthur Young was probably referring to
this decoy when he wrote (General View of the Agriculture of the
County of Essex, 1807, vol. ii, p. 362) :—"Mr. Lee has a decoy
"at Goldhanger, in which he took at one haul one waggonload
"and two cartloads of dunbirds ; but the disturbance made
"frightened such as escaped so much that he took no more that
"season." Mr. E. A. Fitch furnished Christy with some interesting
details regarding this pool. It was used as a flight-pond until
about twenty years previously, about 1870, and had altered little
in appearance. A man named Cooper, then dead, probably a
descendant of the man mentioned by Salmon, used to take large
numbers of Pochards in some seasons. Spring nets were attached
to long stout poles, weighted at one end so that by the removal
of a peg they flew up and extended a net at a height of about ten
to twenty-five feet. This was done when a gun was discharged.
The Pochards, rising against the wind, the flight of poles in that
direction being sprung, struck the net and fell down into the
pens or pockets at the bottom, from which they were unable to
rise, and were then secured.
14. Goldhanger Decoy (No. 2) was situated half a mile
S.E. of Goldhanger, on the verge of the shore, N. of Goldhanger
Creek, on the point of land that divides the Creek running up to
Goldhanger and that going to Joyce's Farm House. It was said
to be a very fine decoy with eight pipes, and it may be inferred
that no traces of it existed in 1886, although it had been worked
within the recollection of an old gunner, then aged 79.
15. Goldhanger Decoy (No. 3) was discovered by the
energy of Mr. E. A. Fitch. Christy states that presumably it once
existed on "Decoy Marsh," which consisted of about eight acres
of grassland, lying next to the sea-wall, immediately in front
of the farm-house on Bound's or Bartlett's Farm, Goldhanger,
held in 1890 by Mr. Abram Francis. It was called "Grand's
"Farm" on the six-inch Ordnance Survey map, probably in error.
In 1890 no trace existed of either the decoy-pond or its pipes.
16. Joyce's or Solly's Decoy was situated half a mile to
the east of No. 15, one mile S.S.E. from Goldhanger and beside
the creek running up to Joyce's Farm. It is in Tolleshunt Major,
or Beckingham parish. The pool is large with eight pipes and