Editing Fish pond (section)

==History==
[[File:Manor House, West End, Long Clawson - geograph.org.uk - 635587.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|right|Medieval fish pond still in use today<br> at [[Long Clawson]], [[Leicestershire]]]]

Records of the use of fish ponds can be found from the early Middle Ages. "The idealized [[8th century|eighth-century]] estate of Charlemagne's [[capitulary]] ''de villis'' was to have artificial fishponds but two hundred years later, facilities for raising fish remained very rare, even on monastic estates.".<ref name=Hoffmann1966>{{cite journal |last1=Hoffmann |first1=Richard C. |title=Economic Development and Aquatic Ecosystems in Medieval Europe |journal=The American Historical Review |date=1996 |volume=101 |issue=3 |pages=631–669 |doi=10.2307/2169418 |jstor=2169418 }}</ref> As the Middle Ages progressed, fish ponds became a more common feature of urbanizing environments.<ref name=Hoffmann1966 /> 

Those with access to fish ponds had a controlled source of food, not unlike pastures for cattle and sheep, for use on days when it was not permitted to eat meat. However fish ponds were difficult to maintain. They were a mark of power and authority, since only rich nobles and institutions such as monasteries could afford to maintain them.<ref name="Hoffmann1966" /> In winter, supplying fresh food for a castle garrison was a constant struggle. Nobles had access to meat from [[Deer park (England)|deer parks]], but this did not supply the needs of whole households. Though fish ponds required maintenance to keep them healthy,<ref name="Hoffmann1966" /> they were an elegant way of giving monasteries and noble houses access to fresh fish. 

Some of the more popular species of fish farmed in fish ponds were [[carp]] and [[Northern pike|pike]]. From the [[14th century]] onward these fish proved to be a popular feature of artificial fish ponds.<ref name="Hoffmann1966" />