We spotted half-a-dozen anglers, rods in hand, heading through Brigg Market Place towards the River Ancholme on Sunday morning.
We also observed them in the car park of the Exchange Coach House Inn.
Had they spotted our recent post about the large pike caught near the former Lidl store and decide to give Brigg a try?
Anglers used to come to town in large numbers from industrial centres like Sheffield during the late 19th century, through to the mid-20th.
The majority did so by train. Not that you can do that any longer on a Sunday. But trains do still run from Sheffield to Brigg on Saturdays.
..before the Ancholme Valley was drained, the river was a main source of food for local folk....fish and wildfowl was on the menu for commoners.
ReplyDeleteWhen the draining began, like the Enclosure Acts, river and land became private and trespass & poaching became a criminal offence - man-made crimes that were often punishable by deportation, or even death....
In retaliation, history shows that local water bailiffs went 'missing' - never to be seen again.
Now we have a more sensible approach to fishing - we don't normally eat the catch - we buy food from Tesco - and a permit/licence makes it legal.