Spalding Gentlemen’s Society looks at wildfowling in the area

Wildfowling is the subject of the latest What’s the Story from Spalding Gentlemen’s Society.

KA-BOOM! The peace was well and truly broken on a misty dawn on the Wash marshes as dozens of duck fell victim to a punt gunner.

There would be meat to go with the veg for the gunner's family, and a few shillings from the sale of the rest.

Hunting wildfowl for the table took a giant leap forward for a working man in the 19th century looking for the most economic way of getting something for the pot plus extras to sell.

For a single shot from a punt gun could down as many as 100 birds gathered together in a floating flock.

The gun better resembled a cannon, but up to 13-feet long and lashed to a small, narrow boat resembling a canoe.

Loaded with shot, which sometimes consisted of any assortment of metal "shrapnel" available, and fired by a gunpowder charge, muzzle or breech loaded, the gunner lay behind his armoury as low in the water as it was possible to get.

Using tiny hand-paddles he would silently manoeuvre the punt to as close as possible without raising alarm within the target flock. Low in the water so as to be almost invisible until too late, stealth was the name of the game.

The recoil from the giant gun would propel the punt backwards.

It was a dangerous occupation. Punt guns had been known to explode.

One commentator described the punt as little better than a floating plank in which a beginner could choose no better way of drowning himself.

It sounds cruel and unnecessary by today's standards, but for yesteryear's working man it made the difference between feast not famine.

Gentlemen gunners later took to punt gunning, including famous actor James Robertson Justice (The Guns of Navarone, Sir Lancelot Spratt in the "Doctor" series of films and Moby Dick alongside Gregory Peck, among others) and had a holiday home at Moulton Eaugate. He shared his Wash wildfowling adventures with the late Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip.

Punt guns were recently fired over Cowbit Wash to mark the coronation of King Charles.

The local royal connection with wildfowling doesn't end there. One of the best-known wildfowlers was Mackenzie Thorpe (Kenzie) of Sutton Bridge. Variously poacher, wildfowler, guide, conservationist, author, artist and one-time boxer Kenzie was revered, feared and friend to wildfowlers poor, rich and famous.

Legend has it that he once returned to his council house home in Allenby's Close in Sutton Bridge after a hard day on the marsh.

As he was eating his evening meal there was a knock at the door, which his wife answered, returning to tell Kenzie there was a "young man" to see him.

Annoyed at having his meal interrupted Kenzie asked his wife to tell the visitor to wait in the conservatory until he had finished his tea.

When the young man, who waited patiently for his chat with Kenzie about wildfowl on the marshes, was admitted to the living room the gruff wildfowler found himself face-to-face with the future King of England, Prince Charles.

Allenby's Close is now named Royal Close.

Wildfowling became more legitamised in the 1950s when associations to govern the sport and prevent indiscriminate shooting on the Wash were formed for Holbeach, Spalding, Gedney Drove End and other areas of South Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

A ticket held by Spalding Gentlemen's Society to the execution of an infamous late-17th century criminal forms the basis for a play “A Ticket to the Execution” to be performed at the South Holland Centre at 3pm on Sunday, November 2, tickets £5, £4 concessions.

The society’s museum is now closed for building works, but a changing display is being maintained at Ayscoughfee Hall, Wednesday to Sunday, 10.30am to 4pm, free admission.

The society's next lecture, is on Friday, November 28, when Martin Siddle, of Bourne Arts and Community Trust, will speak about Charles Frederick Worth, Father of Haute Couture. Worth's family lived in Bourne and subsequently moved to Paris where he set up The House of Worth.

The talk starts at 7.30pm at Broad Street Methodist Church, Spalding, admission £5.