Monument Type(s):

• EARTHWORK (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• FISHPOND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A series of medieval fishponds and leats, within and just beyond the precinct of the 12th century Buildwas Abbey, which would have provided food for the monks.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2569 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA2570 - 1975 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA4872 - 2002 Earthworks survey at Buildwas Abbey by RCHME

Description

Two rectangular fishponds and associated linear ditches to the West and South West of Buildwas Abbey <1>

In 1991 G Barrett photographed three circular features to the west of the more southerly fishpond. She suggested that they might be landscape gardening features. They were plotted on the SMR record map. They may merely be relatively modern drainage installations <3>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1 as part of Buildwas Abbey [PRN 00311]: Medium score as one of 52 Fishponds <5>

Included in the revised Scheduling of Buildwas Abbey in 1997. Relevant part of Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the ruined and buried remains of Buildwas Abbey and the earthwork and buried remains of an extensive water management system, including water meadows, leats, fishponds, mills, and a fish weir, as well as the remains of several charcoal burning hearths ..The river .. Formed the basis of the complex water management system which operated in the vicinity, and included the fishponds and water meadows which would have supported the abbey's economy and ensured a plentiful food supply for the monks and their livestock. ->

-> Within the precinct, immediately north west of the church and cloister, are a series of well defined earthworks and hollows, the remains of the fishponds which would have provided an important component of the monastic diet. The complex includes a large L-shaped pond to the north west of the west claustral range, with maximum dimensions of 46m north to south by 42m east to west, and up to 2m deep. Lying parallel to this and 10m to the west is a linear hollow, 44m north to south by 12m transversely, and up to 1.6m deep. At the southern end of this pond the buried remains of a sluice can be seen as clear mounds to either side of a narrow channel. This channel leads south into a second rather less clearly defined linear hollow on the same alignment as that to the north. The extent of this feature is not visible on the surface, but the remains of a leat leading from its southern end can be traced as a shallow ditch overlain by the railway embankment. ->

-> To the west of this fishpond complex a distinct scarp 1.5m high marks the edge of a flat area now cut by the modern stream channel. Surface sediments suggest that at sometime this area may have held standing water, possibly functioning as a mere. To the north west of the fishponds is a sub-rectangular hollow, c.50m long by 14m wide, and up to 1.5m deep. Although heavily overgrown and divorced from the main system, this feature appears to be another pond. ->

-> South of the railway embankment to the east of the stream, the southern extent of the leat leading to the main fishpond complex within the monastic precinct can be traced as a shallow ditch which becomes more distinct further south where it winds through a dog-leg bend. It ends at the north east corner of a rectangular pond, which measures 52m north-south by 24m east-west, and is up to 1.4m deep. This pond appears to have been supplied from the south, and probably discharged through the leat to the north, running a mill which was sited at the bend. ->

-> During the 19th century the monastic precinct was bisected east-west by a railway, now disused, which ran to the south of the church. It approached the abbey from the west along an embankment, which overlies part of the abbey fishpond complex, but a bridge allows access under the embankment between the north and south parts of the monument <6>

Field survey of earthworks carried out at Buildwas Abbey and its environs in January and February 2002 in conjunction with the publication of a new guide book for the site. Three areas of earthworks were examined, labelled ‘the pond field’, ‘the west field’ and ‘the south field’. A range of features were identified. <7>

The earthworks associated with the southernmost fishpond were noted during appraisal of LiDAR imagery by Historic England in 2013. <8>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 02466 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1975, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ60SW12 (Card index). SSA1463.

<02> Barret Gill, 1990, Barret Gill, Oblique View, 1990: 90/04/I/33 (Colour slide) (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA16404.

<03> Barret Gill, 1991, Barret Gill, Barret Gill, Oblique View, 1991: 91/??/?/?? (Paper): Acc 13401/020 (Paper) (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA18590.

<04.1> Barret Gill, 1993, Barret Gill, Oblique View, 1993: 93/Q/28 (Colour slide) (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA16412.

<04.2> Barret Gill, 1993, Barret Gill, Oblique View, 1993: 93/Q/37 (Colour slide) (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA18591.

<05> Horton Wendy B, 1990/ 1991, MPP Evaluation File (TEXT). SSA20084.

<05> English Heritage, 1997, Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 14/03/1997) (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA21201.

<07> Brown G, 2002, Earthworks at Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire (Field survey report). SSA20886.

<08> Historic England (Remote Sensing), 2015, Extract from HE NRHE for New uses for survey data project: trial of lidar for rapid monument recording (new sites), p.40 (Gazetteer). SSA28250.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.