Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIG
137.
The rare beechafer, or bee beetle, on common knapweed at Pengwern Common. (Harold Grenfell)
DECOY WOOD POND
A short distance to the east of Broad Pool, on the edge of Cefn Bryn Common, lies Decoy Wood, named
afterthedecoyponditcontained,whichwasusedtocatchwildducks(Fig.138).Thepool,clearlyvisible
on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map of 1884, was roughly square in shape with curving and
tapering ditches leading off from each corner. In this it followed the regular pattern of decoys constructed
in the nineteenth century, although the device itself was perfected in Holland in the late sixteenth century.
It was a large enough feature to require a dedicated boat and its associated boathouse. As it is not shown
on the map of 1848, but is on the 1877 map, it seems to have been constructed between these two dates.
A search of the relevant record topics for the Penrice Estate has not revealed further details. More than
two hundred decoys were built in Britain, but only a few now remain and these are used for ringing and
research, rather than catching ducks for food. As well as the feature at Decoy Wood it seems that there
was also a decoy, or decoys, at Stouthall, since there is a reference to spoonbill
Platalea leucorodia
in the
Swansea Guide
of 1802, which was said to be 'sometimes caught in the decoys at Stouthall'. The exact
location of this other decoy pond is not known and even the Decoy Wood pond has today almost disap-
peared,althoughthecoursesoftheditchesarejuststillvisibleonthegrounddespiteitsbeingplantedwith
conifers. They are shown as curving watercourses on large-scale maps of the area. Although the pond it-
self is now very overgrown, and there is no open water remaining, the area is very boggy and open and
with some effort it would be possible to restore this feature. The conifer plantation is in need of thinning,
with many windblown trees, and when this work is carried out it would present an excellent opportunity
to clear the immediate area of the decoy.
