What is recorded here

Indicated is a fish-pond system on the north bank of the Broad Meadow River in County Meath, linked to the Augustinian abbey of St. Thomas’ and recorded in grants from the 1190s. Three connected hollows still mark the slope, fed by leats from the river and passing water eastward in a line. The ponds appeared on Ordnance Survey maps in 1836 and 1908, proving they remained visible long after the abbey’s height. They are not a vague claim but a working landscape: water taken, held, farmed and returned.

Located on a gentle S-facing slope on the N bank of the Broad Meadow River and c. 15m from the stream. The church at Killegland (ME045-004----) had been granted to the Augustinian abbey of St. Thomas’ (DU018-020051-) by Hugh de Lacy, and this was endorsed in later grants up to the early thirteenth century (Gilbert 1889, 8, 11, 26, 45-6), one of which, probably from the 1190s, mentions a mill and fish stocks. The ponds are depicted on the 1836 and 1908 editions of the OS 6-inch map. A topographical survey identified three connected hollows in an ENE-WSW line this area. At the W end a rectangular depression (dims c. 10m x c. 10m) is fed by a broad leat (Wth c. 5m) from the river approaching from the SW. About 5m to the E and fed by a leat from the W pond is a larger rectangular pond (dims c. 15m x c. 15m) that merges into the third pond (dims c. 45m ENE-WSW; c. 15m NNW-SSE), which connects with the stream again. (Frazer 2007, fig. 7) See the attached plan from Frazer (2007, fig. 7) Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 21 December 2021

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