Medieval fishponds near Radwinter (EHER 1584)

A series of fairly well-preserved fishponds are visible as earthworks and are presumably of a medieval date. Parts of two of the ponds have been recut and still hold water while various leats and spillways associated with the ponds survive.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import: Fish ponds-earthwork remains of three large subrectangular medieval fish ponds, arranged in series. Upper pond waterfilled to 1m's depth. Middle one is complete but dry, max depth 1.8m, separated from lower pond by bank breached in the middle. Part of a 3rd pond remains to depth of 1.2m on the south-west. Feature was fed by a small stream at the top of the slope into the first pond, allowed to flow from the 3rd pond into the river. OS plan card is in the record, has plan and section of earthworks. <1> <2> Mention of a mill that used to stand beside the church and Radwinter Hall and possibility that it may be linked to the fishponds. <3> April 1979. Field survey. Earthworks constituting the remains of three large sub-rectangular medieval fish ponds, arranged in series. The upper pond is filled with water to a depth of 1.0m. The middle one is complete but dry, with a maximum depth of 1.8m. It is separated from the lower pond by a bank breached in the middle. Part of the third pond remains to a depth of 1.2m on the south west. The entire feature was fed by a small stream at the top of the slope into the first pond, and allowed to flow from the third pond into the river. <4> 1998. Survey. The ponds are arranged in series in a slight valley running downhill from north-west to south-east towards the River Pant. The upper pond still holds water because it has been recut at some point as a stock pond. The section of the lower pond which still holds water has also been recut, but is spring fed, and according to local residents, remained a water supply for Radwinter village within living memory. The uppermost ponds are difficult to distinguish from each other: the earthworks suggest that two or three ponds were amalgamated and that pond 2/3 was not completely finished. Only the south-western sides of ponds 4 and 5 are well-preserved as earthworks, the opposite sides having been virtually levelled by ploughing. The stream is now channelled along southern side of the B1053 road, before turning south, east and then south again to join the River Pant. The channel is up to 2.5m deep and clearly artificial. It may well have been a by-pass channel, from which water could be diverted when required into the upper pond, and so on down the series. At the south-eastern end of the lowermost pond, slight traces of an embanked leat are also probably contemporary with the ponds. This runs south-west to north-east, parallel to the River Pant to join the presumed by-pass channel 25m north of its confluence with the River. The earthwork and contour plans of the fishponds, together with a brief descriptive report and interpretative plan, are held in the archive. <5> See also: <6> - <8>