Coastal Fishing
In former times such nets, raised off the ground or foreshore at night, were used to catch sea birds such as dunlin, knots, oystercatchers, curlews and even ducks as a way of obtaining additional food.
Stake net on the foreshore
In the early 19th century Harry Mount's great-grandfather drowned on Middleton Sands tending his nets:
"He had gone out to the herring nets and missed his way home. When he knew he was lost he fastened himself to a stake but ...the sea was coming in and he slowly drowned. His friends found him dead at the stake".