A LOOKBACK reader has given a fascinating account of her experiences of ‘shanking’ and ‘shilling’ in Marshside.
Brenda Ball grew up in a fisherman’s cottage on Shellfield Road that had been in her family for 200 years.
For seven years – from the late 1940s to the mid-50s – Brenda watched her late father James ‘Jimmy’ Evans going out shrimping with his horse and cart.
A builder by trade, Mr Evans shrimped after he broke his legs in an on-site accident.
He later returned to construction once over-fishing started to hamper the yield from the Marshside coast.
“We have always been connected with shrimping,� said Brenda, who is 75 and lives in Botanic Road, Churchtown.
“Every house in Marshside shilled shrimps.�
Shanker James ‘Jimmy’ Evans out with his horse and cart in Marshside, in the late 1940s or early 1950s
Her experiences of the trade – which she explained is known among Marshside folk as ‘shanking’ – began with watching the work her maternal grandfather John Cadwell in the 1940s.
He went out with a net basket on his back, during low tide at weekends and at night, to supplement his income as a cobbler and shoemaker.
“He used to come home and boil the shrimps and then my mother (Betty Cadwell) and grandmother would shill them,� recalled Brenda – who pointed out that ‘shilling’ was the term used for shelling.
She added: “I used to shill shrimps.
“I started when I was three and carried on until I was in my 50s.�
A shrimper nets his catch on the Marshside coast
Brenda has been married to Tommy Ball for 52 years.
After their wedding they moved to Banks and Brenda shilled for local fisherman, Gerald Rimmer.
“My table was always piled to the top,� she remembered.
“I used to shill until two o’clock in the morning when my children were small.
“My fingers used to bleed and my back was aching.�
Boiling the shrimps so they can be ‘shilled’
Although Tommy kept up the shrimping tradition, he never shanked for a living.
Brenda said: “He used to go out on a Saturday or Sunday morning with his uncle.
“He used to boil them and I used to shill them, there was just enough for us to eat.�
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