Fish ponds, St Milburga's Priory, Much Wenlock

Fish would have been an important part of the monks' diet. Fish were easy to preserve by salting and drying and provided a good alternative to meat during the winter months. The main reason why a monastery would have extensive fishponds however is because for much of the year, on the many church feast days and during lent, meat was forbidden but fish wasn't! Fishponds were elaborate constructions, carefully built to avoid flooding and allowing them to be emptied once a year for cleaning. The main fish bred were pike, perch, bream and roach.