Late 18th century (or earlier) decoy pond, 'Tollesbury Gore Decoy', 760m south-east of Lauriston farm (EHER 9996)

'Gore Decoy' pond. A late 18th century, or earlier, roughly square decoy pond with a pipe at each corner. The major components of the decoy survive in good condition.

September 1972. Field survey. Mainly dry through drainage. Except area TL 926083. <1> 1993. Photographic survey. Roughly square decoy pond with a pipe at each corner. <2> Additional pipes and drainage ditches possibly related to the decoy pond. <3> See aerial photograph <4>. Area = 0.5 1998. Field visit. Visited as part of Monument Protection Programme (MPP) of assessments for scheduling. <5> <6> <7> December 1999. Scheduled Ancient Monument. The monument includes a decoy pond located in an area of grazing marsh near the northern shores of the Blackwater Estuary, some 500m of the south of Lauriston Farm and immediately adjusted to the sea wall, on the other side of which are the Gore Saltings. The major components of the decoy survive in good condition. These include a large, rather irregular, although roughly square, central pond with eight ditches or pipes radiating off (one from each corner, with the others in between). The pond is water-filled and extensively covered with read; towards its centre is an earthen platform which may have supported a decoy hut. An earthwork bank surrounds the pond, some 1-2m high on the south-western and north-eastern sides. The pipes can be traced on the ground as earthworks and also show clearly on aerial photographs taken in 1993 and 1996; the pipe coming off the north-eastern corner survives particularly well and is partly water-filled. The decoy is one of at least nineteen known to have existed in the Blackwater Estuary during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Cartographic evidence gives an early date of construction for the monument, appearing on a map of 1768. Document sources show that in 1886 the decoy was known as Tollesbury Gore Decoy, and that at that time it had been worked within living memory, although not for many years. All wooden walkways, fences and other modern features are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath is included. <8> <9> See also aerial photograph <10>. Gore Decoy is on Harvey's Farm in Goldhanger parish (detached portion), about half a mile east of Joyce's Decoy (EHER 12120), and close to the sea and the west end of Gore Saltings, from which it derives its name. Payne-Gallwey, writing in 1886, states that it was known as the Tollesbury Gore Decoy, and that although worked in present memory it had not been in use for many years. <11> Decoy Pond (twice). <12> See also EHER 12120 for a nearby decoy pond to the west. Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.