Monument record 5168/0/2 - Probable Medieval Fishponds

Undated fishponds. There appear to have been three originally, now damaged by modern housing. Summary from record 2052/0/1: Earthwork (Aerial Photography)

{1} Fishponds (SP 786612), lie in the bottom of a broad open valley on river gravel and Upper Lias Clay at about 60 m. above OD. The date and history of the site is unknown but the ponds are presumably medieval in origin.

The site in an area which has for some time been on the edge of surburban Northampton and has recently been incorporated within it. As a result of damage and alteration caused by the proximity of housing estates, the full details are irrecoverable.

There appear to have been once three separate ponds. The south easternmost is the only complete one and was almost square, flat-bottomed and bounded on the N.E. and S.W. by a low scarp 0.5 m. high. At its S.E., down-stream, end is a large earthern dam up to 2 m. high, broken in the centre to allow the modern stream to pass through. At its S.W. end the dam curves back slightly to become the scarp marking the S.W. edge of the pond but at the N.E. end it has been cut away and only two low scarps less than 0.25 m. high mark its former extent.

The centre pond is triangular and is also bounded by low scarps. Its dam is now much degraded low bank, incorporated into allotment gardens on the S.W. Where best preserved on the N.E. it is only 0.5 m. high. The modern stream passes through a gap in its centre and at its N.E. end it bifurcates leaving a narrow channel or former leat between it and the scarp to the N.E.

The form of the upper pond is unknown. A large bank is depicted on OS plans and on air photographs taken in 1953 and is that shown on fiche Fig 37. This has now been completely destroyed and the land around it landscaped and built over. The position of this bank, lying as it did, almost parallel to the stream, is curious but it is probable that it was a dam for a pond which once lay to the N.W. Before modern lanscaping and development the land to the N.E. of the ponds was covered by wellmarked ridge-and-furrow.

The area enclosed by the dams was called `Fish Pond Meadow' in a conveyance of 1878 and `fishponds' in the 1932 place-names survey.

{2} Bifurcation in dam appears to be modification to accommodate side channel. Possible mill site on dam of bottom fishpond; stone facing within base of dam; plan also shows leat.

<1a> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP V58-RAF-1122, 0028-30) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1985, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.421/Site 10 (checked) (Series). SNN77383.

<2> WELSH T.C., 1994, CORRESPONDENCE, (unchecked) (Report). SNN3191.

<3> Hall D.; Palmer R., 2001, Midland Open Fields Project: Digital Archive, (part checked) (Archive). SNN105253.

<4> Hall D.N., 2001, Turning The Plough - Midland Open Fields: Landscape Character and Proposals for Management, (unchecked) (Book). SNN101551.

Record last edited

Nov 7 2022 2:30PM