A CHAPTER of a way of life, which started in the Bronze Age, closed on Friday, December 20, with the death of the man who had taken on the title of the world’s last mud horse fisherman.

Adrian Sellick had worked with his father Brendan on the bleak Bristol Channel mudflats in Stolford, near Stogursey, since the age of 12 and continued after Brendan’s death in 2021.

With the death of Adrian, aged 66, his son, Cane, plans to carry on the 3,000-year-old tradition which involves dragging a wooden, sledge-like mud horse out in all weathers to service nets far out in the channel.

Archaeologists learned that mud horse fishermen have been working the rich tidal zone of Bridgwater Bay for literally thousands of years, after remains of an early mud horse were found buried deep in the peat of the Somerset Levels.

The well-preserved wooden find was nearly identical to the rudimentary home-made models used by the Sellicks.

The only practical and safe way to get across the deep Bridgwater Bay mud and bring in a catch was to utilise a kind of wooden sledge.

Brendan experimented with other means, including a motorised skimobile, but the basic mud horse, consisting of a single wooden skid, a trestle and a wicker basket, proved to be the only means of transport usable.

The mud horse fishermen would lean on the sledge and push it forward.

Brendan could recall a time when there were a dozen mud horse fishermen working regularly on the mudflats, but he and Adrian were the only ones plying the trade for the past 40 years.

They often complained that the gigantic seawater cooling systems of Hinkley Point nuclear power station were sucking in all the small fry and, in doing so, badly depleting Bristol Channel fish stocks.

Adrian’s daughter, Charlotte said: “Dad fished with the mud horse for 54 years, from the age of 12.

“However, he remembered going out as young as seven or eight, sometimes at night, when his grandfather would sit on the beach shining the torch out to the nets for dad to see.

“He would fish in all weather, apart from thunder and lightning.

“He remembered being out one day with his father when a storm came and lightning struck only feet away from them.

“From that day on, he would never go out in a thunderstorm again.

“On a very high tide, dad enjoyed going out deep, past the shrimp nets to the gill nets, where he would catch fish such as bass, cod, skate, and Dover sole.

“This was always a risky task because the tide could easily cut you off - but despite the risk, this was one thing he enjoyed the most.

“He would also say he loved the quiet and solitude when out there, and even if he had no catch that day, he never saw it as wasted time because it was his place and he could just enjoy the surroundings and the nature around him.

“In later years, due to the decline in the fish stocks, Adrian worked nights at a local factory, which allowed him to continue mud horse fishing during the day.

“He would often have just four hours of sleep.

“Keeping the tradition and the legacy of the mud horse fishing was at the core of his heart.”

The ancient trade received national publicity when Adrian was featured in the BBC television hit show Flog It!, showing presenter Paul Martin how to handle a mud horse during a demonstration in Watchet Harbour.

Now, Adrian’s son Cane hopes to carry on mud horse fishing in his spare time ‘to keep the tradition going for many years to come’.