Fish was an important part of the medieval diet for several reasons. Church rules for fasting were quite strict during the Middle Ages. People were not supposed to eat meat on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, during Lent and on all main feast days of the church, such as Ascension Day (40 days after Easter) and All Saints Day (1 November), but fish was allowed! Therefore these days became known as "fish days". People in religious orders ate fish often. The monk who drew this image of a "fish - monk"  was probably fed up with all the fish he had to eat.

©Hereford Cathedral Library

© Chris Musson aerial photo of Marden fishponds

Another reason fish was so popular, was that most cows had to be slaughtered before the winter months as there wouldn’t be enough feed for them. Therefore fresh meat was scarce during the winter. But fish could easily be preserved by salting or drying.

Both sea fish, such as herring and fresh-water fish, such as eels, were eaten. At Goodrich Castle, for example, servants were sent to Bristol, Gloucester and even to Southampton to purchase sea fish, such as Hake. Joan, the Countess of Pembroke, who held Goodrich Castle from 1296 until 1307 often gave Wye salmon to departing guests as a special present. River fishing was done by several methods: guddling by hand, spearing, netting, trapping or angling. Special boats were developed for river fishing. In Wales and on the rivers Wye and Severn these were called coracles.

Fishponds were in use from the 12^th century onwards and were connected to manors (eg. Freens Court), monastic foundations and castles. In Herefordshire the Augustinian Canonesses at Aconbury had fish ponds as did Titley Priory. In fact if you check the SMR database, you will see that the fish ponds at Titley Priory are rectangular. The fish bred were mostly pike, considered a great delicacy, bream, perch and roach. Carp were added in the late 15^th century. As with dovecotes, fish ponds were restricted to those of high status.

This fish pond near Holme Lacy church was used in the Middle Ages. A farmer doing some clearing work found some timber in the pond which was dendro tested as being 12th century.

Fishponds were made by damming a stream and were often long and narrow. They were usually lined with clay or timber. A sluice at one end would allow the excess water to escape. It was important that fish ponds were constructed properly as these ponds often had to hold a considerable amount of water. At Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire, for example, a sluice burst once and flooded the abbey.

Click here if you would like to see an aerial photograph of fishponds.

Fishponds were made by damming a stream and were often long and narrow. They were usually lined with clay or timber. A sluice at one end would allow the excess water to escape. It was important that fish ponds were constructed properly as these ponds often had to hold a considerable amount of water. At Hailes Abbey in Gloucestershire, for example, a sluice burst once and flooded the abbey.

At castles, fishponds could be linked to moats. In Herefordshire, for example, there are remains of a medieval fishpond at Stapleton Castle.

The moat at Lower Brockhampton

Maintaining a fishpond required skill and experience. At least once a year the ponds had to be drained and cleaned. By the end of the Middle Ages, fish was such a popular part of people’s diet, that some turned their fishponds into a business.

Here is a medieval recipe for flounder:

"Take floundres and drawe hem in the side by the hede…and make sauce of water and salt and a good quantite of ale; and whan hit biginneth to boile, skeme it, and caste hem there-to; and late hem sethe (boil); and seue hem forth hote; and no sauce but salt, or as a man luste."

Could you make sense of the medieval spellings? (It sometimes helps to read the text out loud).

Some villages had ponds, perhaps as a watering place for livestock or as a pond to provide water for a mill. Aerial photographs sometimes show up where a deserted medieval village might have been by the proximity of a pond. The deserted village of Preston Wynne, for example, has a pond on the outskirts.

If you would like to see an aerial photo of the fishpond at Preston Wynne, click here.

The fish pond at Croft Castle.

Questions:

• 1.Why was fish an important part of the medieval diet?
• 2.Where did people get their fish from?
• 3.How do you construct a fish pond?
• 4.What kinds of fish did people eat?

( Sources: Historical Britain, Eric S.Wood, 1995. The English Village, Richard Muir, 1980. Food and Cooking in Medieval Britain, History and Recipes, by Maggie Black, English Heritage, 1985. Goodrich Castle guide, English Heritage. Food in History, Reay Tannahill, 1973. Food and Feast in Medieval England, P.W.Hammond, 1993.)

TFM