Ryton, Blaklough Fishery

HER Number:
12231

District:
Gateshead

Site Name:
Ryton, Blaklough Fishery

Place:
Ryton

Map Sheet:
NZ16NE

Class:
Agriculture and Subsistence

Site Type: Broad:
Fish Trap

Site Type: Specific:
Fish Weir

General Period:
Medieval

Specific Period:
C12-C14

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Blaklough in 1344. 'Bloec' is old English for 'black', 'luh' means lough, lke or pool. This fishery was near Ryton. The line of an old fish weir is marked on the 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey map running diagonally across the river from Island House on the north bank to Signal Point on the south at approximately NZ 150 652. This could be this site. The main catch would have been salmon, but in fact a wider range of fish would have been taken (eg. Eels, pike, minnow, burbot, trout and lamprey' {G.N. Garmondsway (ed), 1939, 'Aelfric's Colloquy', pp 101-2}.

Easting:
151

Northing:
651

Grid Reference:
NZ151651

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Victor Watts, 1986, Some Northumbrian Fishery Names II in Durham Archaeological Journal, 2, 1986, pp 55-61