Garden Archaeology - Fishponds

This is the third series of our talks exploring how archaeology helps the garden historian find vital evidence on the ground which then informs future restoration projects and garden management plans. Our distinguished and popular speakers will be reporting mainly on current and on-going archaeology at various sites and with an emphasis on water features.

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This ticket is for this individual session and costs £5, and you may purchase tickets for other individual sessions via the links below, or you may purchase a ticket for the entire course of 6 sessions at a cost of £24 via the link here. [Gardens Trust members may use their promo code for an additional 10% discount.]

Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and again a few hours before the talk (If you do not receive this link please contact us). A link to the recorded session will be sent shortly after each session and will be available for 1 week .

Due to a recent Apple decision to charge a 30% fee for paid online events unfortunately you may no longer be able to purchase this ticket from the Eventbrite iOS app. Please use a web browser on desktop or mobile to purchase or follow the link here.

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Week 1. 10th Jan: Stowe Landscape Gardens. First in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 2. 17th Jan: Mediaeval and Tudor Moats in Suffolk. Second in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 3. 24th Jan: Baddesley Clinton. Third in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 4. 31st Jan: Fishponds. Fourth in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 5. 7th Feb: “The canale beautifull”. Fifth in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

Week 6. 14th Feb: The Vyne. Last in a series of 6 online lectures, £5 each or all 6 for £24.

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Week 4. 31st Jan: Fishponds with Stephen Wass

Fishponds have figured as important garden features throughout history, but their precise form and function have varied with time. Starting with some newly discovered Roman examples we will examine fishponds as part of medieval designed landscapes as well as their semi-industrial use in developing what in effect were fish farms. We shall look at transformations in diet and religious practice post-reformation that led to many ponds enjoying a new lease of life as decorative features within formal gardens and explore how new pursuits such as recreational boating and angling further transformed their role within English gardens.

Dr. Stephen Wass is a researcher and has just completed his D. Phil. on the subject of seventeenth-century water gardens. In addition, he works as a commercial archaeologist. In this capacity most of his projects involve historic gardens and he is currently occupied with a series of archaeological investigations connected with the latest programme of restoration at Stowe Landscape Gardens near Buckingham. Stephen’s recently published book on the Copes of Hanwell Castle entitled Seventeenth Century Water Gardens and the Birth of Modern Scientific Thought in Oxford (Windgather Press, 2022) is discounted until the end of January (details here). He is also working to set up a new research programme alongside the Oxfordshire Gardens Trust into the ‘lost’ Tudor and Jacobean gardens in the county.

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