Marshland and the Fens are not deemed healthy, except, perhaps, to consumptive persons, who are said to be sometimes sent thither on account of the softness of the air. To most others the country is unhealthy, and subject to aguish disorders, which has always been the case, it seems, especially in Marshland; hence an ague is in Norfolk proverbially called the Marshland Bailiff, and a person afflicted with that disorder is said to be arrested by the Bailiff of Marshland.—Instead of hedgerows the fields are here generally enclosed with deep dikes, which for the most part of the year are filled with water, to which, probably, we are chiefly to ascribe the unhealthiness of the country; or rather to the putrid state of these dikes and stagnant waters, in the latter part of summer and the autumn. [81]
In passing along the road through this remarkable country, a stranger, from the hilly parts, cannot help being struck at first sight with the strange appearance of gates and gate-posts erected all about, without any hedges or visible enclosures to indicate either the necessity, or yet the utility of them; for as the dikes are not perceptable at a distance, the land on every side appears in many places like a great open field. A little time and reflection, however, generally rectify the wondering traveller’s judgment.
The soil of Marshland is for the most part very good and rich; but no where more so than in that notable tract called the Smeeth, which has been long celebrated for its uncommon fertility. Till lately it was all a common belonging to the seven towns of Marshland; and old Authors used to relate that it constantly fed 30,000 Sheep, with abundance besides of the great cattle of the seven towns. So famous was this tract for the richness and luxuriance of its soil, at the accession of James I, that a courtier is said to have mentioned it then to that monarch, as one of the most fertile spots in all his English dominions; adding “that if over night a wand or rod were laid on the bare ground, it would, by the next morning, be covered with grass, of that night’s growth, so as not then to be discerned.” To which his majesty is said jocosely to reply, “that some parts of Scotland far exceeded that, for that he himself knew some grounds there, where if an horse were put in over night it could not be discerned the next morning;” alluding, it seems, to some of the bogs in that country.—The Smeeth has been of late enclosed, drained, and considerably improved. A great part of it has been ploughed up, and the crops produced are said to be in general very abundant, and likely to continue so. It may therefore be presumed, that the enclosing of the Smeeth will prove no detriment, but rather an advantage to the public; and also that its celebrity, as a most fertile spot, will not be diminished by its being no longer an open and unimproved common.
These parts have been long noted for great numbers of Decoys. They are said to be now much less numerous than formerly, owing, seemingly, to the various and progressive improvements that have taken place of late years, especially in Lincolnshire, and the consequent decrease of the aquatic wild-fowl. There are still, however, a good many decoys to be found in different places, of which the best is said to be that of Lakenheath, on the borders of Suffolk, from which very considerable numbers of aquatic wild-fowl of different kinds are usually sent to the London Markets.—An authentic account of this singular and curious contrivance, it being in general but ill understood, and but imperfectly described in books, shall be here inserted, as it is presumed it will not prove unacceptable to the reader.
A decoy is generally made where there is a large pond surrounded with wood, and beyond that a marshy uncultivated country. If the piece of water is not thus surrounded, it will be attended with the noise and other accidents, which may be expected to frighten the wild-fowl from a quiet haunt where they mean to sleep during the day time in security. If such noises or disturbances are wilful, an action will lie against the disturbers. As soon as the evening sets in, the decoy rises (as the term is) and the wild fowl feeds during the night. If the evening be still, the noise of their wings, during their flight, is heard at a very great distance, and is a pleasing, though melancholy sound. The rising of the decoy in the evening is, in Somersetshire, called radding. The decoy-ducks are fed with hempseed, which is thrown over the skreen in small quantities, to bring them forward into the pipes or canals, and to allure the wild-fowl to follow as this seed floats. There are several pipes, as they are called, which lead up a narrow ditch that closes at last with a funnel net. Over these pipes, (which grow narrower from their first entrance) is a continued arch of netting, suspended on hoops. It is necessary to have a pipe, or ditch for almost every wind that can blow, as upon this circumstance it depends which pipe the fowl will take to; and the Decoy-man always keeps on the windward side of the ducks, holding near his mouth a lighted turf, to prevent his breath or effluvia reaching their sagacious nostrils. All along each pipe, at certain intervals are placed skreens, made of reeds, so situated and contrived, that it is impossible the wild fowl should see the decoy-man before they have passed on toward the end of the pipes where the purse net is placed. The inducement of the wildfowl to go up one of these pipes is, because the decoy-ducks, trained to this, lead the way, either after hearing the whistle of the decoy-man, or enticed by the hempseed: the latter will dive underwater or swim quietly away, while the wildfowl fly on and are taken in the purse net. It often happens, however, that the wildfowl are in such a state of sleepiness and dozing, that they will not follow the decoy-ducks. Use is then generally made of a dog, that has been taught his lesson: he passes backward and forward, between the reed skreens, (in which are little holes, both for the decoy-man to see, and the little dog to pass through); this attracts the eye of the wild-fowl, who, not choosing to be interrupted, advance toward the small contemptible animal, that they may drive him away. The dog all the time, by the directions of the decoy-man, plays among the skreens of reeds nearer and nearer to the purse net; till at last, perhaps, the decoy-man appears behind a skreen, and the wild-fowl not daring to pass by him in return, nor being able to escape upward, on account of the net covering, rush on into the purse net. Sometimes the dog will not attract their attention, unless a red handkerchief, or something very singular be put about him. The general season for catching fowls in Decoys is from the end of October till February; the taking of them earlier is prohibited by an act of 10. Geo. II. c. 32. which forbids it from June 1, to October 1, under a penalty of 5s. for each bird destroyed within that time. Most of the Decoys of this kingdom are in the Counties bordering on the great level of the Fens. There are some also in Somersetshire. Lincolnshire used to be the most noted county for its decoys, and it is probably so still. Amazing numbers of ducks, widgeons and teals, used to be taken there and sent to the London markets. Some years ago, within one season, and from ten decoys in the neighbourhood of Waynfleet, the number amounted to 31,200 in which were included several other species of ducks. The decoys are said to be commonly let at a certain annual rent, from 10 to a £100. It was customary formerly to have in the fens an annual driving of the young ducks before they took wing. Numbers of people assembled on the occasion, who beat a vast tract, and forced the birds into a net placed at the spot where, the sport was to terminate.—150 dozens have been taken at once; but the practice being thought detrimental, has been abolished by act of Parliament.
Section XI.
Brief remarks on the parish churches of Marshland and Holland; with a short sketch of the history of the town and castle of Wisbeach.
By those who have visited Marshland, nothing, perhaps, has been more admired than its parish churches, some of which are very large and stately: that of Walpole St. Peters is eminently so, and deemed one of the most beautiful parish or country churches in the kingdom. It is built of freestone, and consists of a nave, two aisles, and a chancel, all covered with lead. The tower corresponds with the other parts of the building, being a very handsome stone structure embattled. This edifice was founded near the close of the reign of Henry V. and completed in the first or second year of that of his successor. In one of the upper windows of the south aisle of this church is said to be a most absurd and profane representation of the Supreme Being, habited in a loose purple gown, with a long beard, resting his right hand on a staff of gold, and crowned with glory; pointing out the forefinger of his left hand, as dictating to the Virgin Mary, who is seated before him, with a pen in her hand, and paper on a desk before her. The Deity stands at the door or entrance of a castle, embattled, and with turrets, surrounded by a wall embattled; within this wall is the virgin; and many angels are looking down from the tower.—Here it may be observed, that when superstition has taken hold of the mind, there is scarce any thing too absurd to be imagined, or too impious to be received. Sad and shocking must be the state of religion in a country where men are employed in making pictures or images of the deity, or where such images and pictures are preserved, or suffered to exist in places of worship. It would not, surely, be to the discredit of the minister and parishioners of Walpole to have the above preposterous and profane representation defaced, or removed.
Marshland indeed must not be thought singular, among the several districts of this flat and stoneless country, for the largeness, stateliness, and elegance of its churches. The case is much the same in the adjoining district of Holland in Lincolnshire, and in most of the northern parts of Cambridgeshire. In no part of England are to be seen larger or handsomer country churches. They are mostly built with good freestone, and yet there is no freestone, or any other stones here to be found, but what have been brought from a great distance. Where the stones used in building these churches were procured, seems to be unknown to the men of this generation. They must have been brought a very great way, and conveyed by water carriage, as the expence would otherwise have been enormous and unsupportable. Some, indeed, will tell us, that the masons and carpenters worked then for a penny a day, and that other labour was in the same proportion; but they seem to forget that their penny was worth a great deal more than ours. Money, in this country, has greatly sunk in its value since that time. A penny would then, probably, go as far as 2s. or half a crown of our money; so that, at any rate, the expence of the erection of these churches must have been very great, and such as the present inhabitants, with all their boasted wealth and resources, would hardly (or rather, not at all) be equal to.
With sumptuous seats and magnificent palaces it does not appear that this country did ever much abound. Its strength might be too much exhausted in building churches, to admit of undertaking any other very expensive edifices. The Castle of Wisbeach seems to be almost the only exception; which, though situated a few yards out of the limits of Marshland, it may not be altogether improper to give here a short sketch of its history, as well as that of Wisbeach itself.