Information for record number MWA2644:
Fishponds at Baddesley Clinton Hall

Summary Medieval fishponds used for the breeding and storing of fish. They are well documented and still visible as earthworks, interlinked with leats and channels. They are situated at Baddesley Clinton Hall.
What Is It?  
Type: Fishpond, Watercourse
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Baddesley Clinton
District: Warwick, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 19 71
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

 
Source Number  

1 In the grounds of Baddesley Clinton house are two small ponds, apparently originally used as breeding tanks, and a very large triangular pool. These are the most fully documented Medieval fishponds in Warwickshire. 15th century bailiff's accounts contain records of payment to labourers to dig earth to construct ponds. The accounts record the amount of earth moved, and give details of the pipes, flood-gates and other woodwork involved. The ponds are very complicated with a large dam to the W and a network of leets and channels to link the ponds to the moat in an integrated system of water-control.
2 The larger of the two ponds (the triangular pond and a rectangular pond to the N) are overgrown and choked with weeds, but the two smaller ponds to the NW of the moat appear to be in good shape.
3 Dredging work was conducted on the ponds in 1983.
4 Report on nine wooden pipes retrieved from within a fishpond and examined. Probably early 18th century.
 
Sources

Source No: 3
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Fishponds at Baddesley Clinton
Author/originator: Dyer C et al
Date: 1982-4
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Serial
Title: Historic wooden pipes, Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Currie CK
Date: 1994
Page Number: 91-95
Volume/Sheet: 98
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Dyer C
Date: 1981/2
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Baddesley Clinton
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: SMR Card
Author/originator: Thomson D J
Date: 1983
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: PRN 4402
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source SMR Card Sites and Monuments Record Card. The Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record began to be developed during the 1970s. The details of individual archaeological sites and findspots were written on record cards. These record cards were used until the 1990s, when their details were entered on to a computerised system. The record cards are still kept at the office of the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument POOL * A small body of water, either natural or artificial. back
monument HOUSE * A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known. back
monument FISHPOND * A pond used for the rearing, breeding, sorting and storing of fish. back
monument WATERCOURSE * A channel used for or formed by the conveyance of water. Can be natural, eg. a river or artificial eg. an aqueduct. Use more specific type where known. back
monument POND * A body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. Use specifc type where known. back
monument MOAT * A wide ditch surrounding a building, usually filled with water. Use for moated sites, not defensive moats. Use with relevant site type where known, eg. MANOR HOUSE, GARDEN, etc. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument LEAT * Artificial water channel, usually leading to a mill. back
monument GATE * A movable stucture which enables or prevents entrance to be gained. Usually situated in a wall or similar barrier and supported by gate posts. back
monument TANK * Armoured military vehicle with its own firepower, which operates on tracks for troop mobility over rough terrain. Some may be adapted, or purpose-built, to be amphibious, and may then be double-indexed as AMPHIBIOUS VEHICLE. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back
monument DAM * A barrier of concrete or earth, etc, built across a river to create a reservoir of water for domestic and/or industrial usage. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record