Monument record 224/0/1 - Post Medieval/Modern Ponds (Possbly Fishponds/Decoy Ponds &/or Millponds)

Possible 18th-century ponds that may have been used for breeding fowlfowl or boating. The water from all three ponds passes into a leat which runs north-west towards Lower Thorpe where there was once a watermill

{1} The largest, lowest pond is roughly trapezoidal with a triangular extension east up the valley and groups of low marshy islands at each end. The central pond is the smallest and is roughly triangular and the third one has an irregular north side with four 'bays' cut into it. All the ponds are depicted exactly as they are now on a map of 1806. The ponds appear to be of post-medieval date, probably of the 18th century, and were perhaps used for breeding wildfowl and for boating. The water from all three ponds passes not into the original stream but into a high-level leat which runs north west towards Lower Thorpe where there was once a watermill.

{3} Annotated as fishponds

{5} Leat is in situ but heavily overgrown;

{6} Geophysical survey was undertaken as part of a suite of surveys for HS2. The survey detected slight responses apparently associated with the canalised leat.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.148 site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<2> 1806, Thorpe Mandeville Estate Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN9834.

<3> ORDANCE SURVEY, 1955, Ordnance Survey 6 Inch Map Series, SP54NW (Map). SNN48428.

<4> Cadman, G.E., 1991, SMR Report Form, (checked) (SMR Report Form). SNN50258.

<5> Cadman, G.E., 1992, Lower Thorpe Farm, Thorpe Mandeville, (checked) (Note). SNN51849.

<6> High Speed Two (HS2) Ltd, 2013, London-West Midlands Environmental Statement: Technical Appendices, CFA15, Greatworth to Lower Boddington Survey reports (CH-004-015), Cultural heritage, p. 23-4/Site GLBo85 (Report). SNN111660.

<7> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, Air Photograph (RAF CPE/UK/1994, 1025-7) (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Oct 12 2023 10:45AM