Monument Type(s):

• FISHPOND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• MILL POND? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)
• ORNAMENTAL POND (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1901 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: A pond, now dry, which was originally a fishpond serving Hodnet Castle, and later an ornamental pond for the adjacent formal gardens.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA6925 - 2010 Management survey of the motte and bailey castle on Castle Hill by Shropshire Council, HET

Description

Scheduling of Hodnet Castle revised in 2001. Relevant parts of Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of a motte and bailey castle, the standing structural remains of a tower keep, and the associated remains of a park pale, a fishpond and a formal garden. ->

-> Immediately to the east of the castle are remains of a rectangular fishpond, now dry, measuring approximately 20m by 75m with a dam, 9m wide and 1.3m high, to the south. The eastern side of the pond is defined by the northern end of the park pale and by the external bank of the motte to the west. Following its use for storing and breeding fish, the pond probably served as an ornamental feature adjacent to the formal gardens created within the inner bailey. ->

-> All fence and gate posts, stiles, electricity poles and the disused brick shed are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included. <1>

A management plan was prepared for the castle and associated features in 2010, by Shropshire Council's Historic Environment Countryside Advisor. ->

-> Immediately east of the castle are the earthwork remains of a rectangular fish pond approximately 20m wide and 75m long, with a dam approximately 12m wide and 1.3m high at its southern end. The garden and the pond may have been laid out in association with the construction or rebuilding of the new hall to the south-west, thus incorporating the physical remains of the castle into the setting of the new house and thereby appropriating the ancestral connections associated with them.The pond immediately east of the castle may also have functioned as a mill pond, since a mill is known to have existed near the castle until it was demolished in the early-mid 19th century. However, the exact position of the mill building remains unclear.->

-> A programme of careful clearance of mature and young tree and scrub cover was recommended. <2>

<01> English Heritage, 2001, Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 09/03/2001) (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA20345.

<02> Wigley A, 2010, Management Plan for motte and bailey castle on Castle Hill (Management report). SSA23791.

Sources

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