b'assaults on parks and ponds frequently recorded in the fourteenth century. Although I had studied the fish ponds on the Palace site using aerial photos, I hadnt Fish Pond Construction &inspected them on the ground until Colin Management: Fish Pond Usage Robinson told me about some brickwork he Multiple fish ponds rather than just one arehad spotted where the beck cuts through a common. Separate uses ranged from breeding,channel at the point that Dam 2 is marked on through rearing and fattening, to the storage of fishthe accompanying diagram. This encouraged ready to be eaten. Storage ponds or stews do occurme to walk the whole length of the southern on their own:bank of the beck that borders the closed Stews or storage ponds in which fish destined forPalace site and allowed me to make a number the table were concentrated, acted as living larders.of discoveries which led to the writing of this These ponds need not have been very large or veryarticle.deep although deep enough to prevent the pond from freezing down to the very bottom during a severeWater Flow & Water Levelswinter. Small stews were often located close toOne assumption is that the main flow of the beck domestic structures and are occasionally found withinwas diverted away from the fish ponds (the remains of moated islandsIn a small pond fish may be nettedwhich lie along the current route of the beck) around with relative ease. The simplest form of fishpond isthe moat. Expert opinion provides support for this a single stew stocked from a natural source and it isassumption:this type of pond to which documents generally referStream or river fed systems prone to seasonal before the 14th century. 7[My underlining] flooding require substantial bypass channels and flood From this we could safely assume that one ofbanks. The ability to drain ponds for cleaning and the ponds on the Palace site was a stew or storagerepair requires effective sluice gates and leats. The pond especially as it appears to be located close todegree of civil engineering skills locally available may domestic structures. Looking at things the other wayhave determined the extent to which a particular set of round, we could assume that the structures that showponds were developed. 10up on aerial photos of the Palace site, close to the fishThe leat in our case is the moat. The point about ponds, are domestic and that the area closest to thesluice gates will be tackled separately below. For what structures is a kitchen garden. emerges as a complex design and construction task The fact that there were two ponds at Bishopat Wilton we can assume that the Archbishop of York Wilton suggests that they had separate uses. So, aswas able to call upon the necessary engineering skills.well as there being a storage pond, the other could have been used for breeding and rearing: Dams & SluicesFish will convert food into flesh more efficientlyDams were constructed to hold back water and than any other species in the animal kingdom. Rearingallow the water level to rise. In the early days of pond fry obtained from natural sources in a predator freeconstruction earthen dams were most common and environment will allow a many-fold increase in thesuch dams were constructed of a core of rubble production of mature fish over those allowed tostone, probably with timber framing. Dammed mature in the wild. 8 water would have spilled over the top of the dam in a The 30 bream gifted to the Archbishop of York inspecially constructed channel. 1228 to install in his fishpond were unlikely to haveSluices are a later refinement. They can be opened been intended for immediate consumption.and closed allowing the water level to be manually Such gifts, incidentally, are rarely repeated;controlled and in some cases allowing a pond to be they were plainly in the nature of a pump-primingcompletely emptied for cleaning. exercise, after which the landlords pond-systemIt is not really possible to speculate about the would be expected to expand stock from its ownnature of the original mechanisms for controlling water resources. In short, selective breeding was beginninglevels and flows in the Palace fish ponds. It is possible to be practised. 9 that archaeological excavation could throw some light It can reasonably be assumed that a system ofon the issue. For the moment we will have to satisfy breeding and storage was being introduced at Wiltonourselves with identifying the five places in which it is which required the use of two fish ponds. likely that some mechanism was in place (see diagram 7Michael Aston, 1988. The Excavation of Fishponds by R. A. Chambers with M. Gray.8As Above.9J. McDonnell, 198110As Above.278 BULLETIN 15'