Curleyhilp !

[Famous5]

Anyone know what a curleyhilp is? It's mentioned in a list of wildfowl found at Martin Mere, Lancashire in 1700

Thanks in anticipation

[Quizmonster]

'Curlew', perhaps, in local dialect? Whether that qualifies as a 'wildfowl' I have no idea; it just sounds plausible.

[SteveD]

Maybe you could contact someone here:

http://ldsociety.com/Welcome%20To%20Lancashire %20Dialect%20Society.htm

[Cetti]

Having a dialect browse I've found the present words for Curlew to be 'Tewitt' or 'Whaup' so I think that QM's answer could be correct - curleyhilp being one of the early words.
True, the Curlew is a wader and not wildfowl, but in 1700 all the birds seen near or around the water could have been defined as wildfowl. Just a thought.

[Quizmonster]

I've done a little more searching and, in Dutch, a curlew is called a 'wilp', similar to its name in Scots, which is 'whaup'. This gave rise to a dialect version...'curlew-hilp'. It seems, therefore, Famous5, that your spelling with a 'y' is just a variant of that 'w' version.
Whatever, we've isolated the beast!

[SteveD]

Sorry, but I'm going to complicate things a bit here. According to my Dutch dictionary, the word for curlew is "wulp". Here is a web site confirming that (sound):

http://www.ivnvechtplassen.org/ivn_vogels_veen _weide/Wulp_Numenius-arquata.html

I'm sure that this doesn't alter QM's and Cetti's suggestions, though.

Could it be a mis-reading or a mis-transcription of "curlew/wulp"? Googling "curlew/wulp" produces many results.

[Cetti]

Last bit of information: Huilpe is the anglo saxon word for Curlew - used around 700.

[Quizmonster]

Last-last bit of information...
According to The Oxford English Dictionary - the 'bible' as far as I am concerned, Steve - the Dutch for 'curlew' is (quote) "wulp, wilp". Both i/u would appear to be OK.
Whatever...the answer to the question is curlew.
(Hiya, Cetti...I don't seem to have seen you for ages.)

[Cetti]

I know QM because your stronghold being Phrases & Sayings, which is much too cerebral for me ;-)

XXXXX .In case we don't meet for another three years!