Fish was central to the monastic diet, especially during Advent
and Lent, when the use of animal fat, eggs, milk and milk products
was either prohibited or restricted. Accordingly, the monks of
Byland required a considerable amount of fish to provide for
the monks and lay-brothers of the house, as well as for guests.
The community secured rights to fish in rivers and along the
coast, for example at Gaterigg, Linthorpe and Coatham.(71) Byland
was the only Cistercian house that was not situated on or near
to a fishable river, and the monks created an extensive network
of ponds (stews) for freshwater fish within the precinct and
also on the abbey granges. The earthworks from these ponds and
surviving dams are amongst the most remarkable of their kind
in Yorkshire. The ponds had no post-monastic usage and may even
have fallen out of use in the fourteenth century. This means
that their analysis can shed considerable light on monastic fishing
techniques in the Middle Ages. Fountains Abbey may have been
the pioneer of fish farming, but Byland has left an important
legacy to our knowledge and understanding of fish farming in
the Middle Ages.(72)
Signing for salmon
Monks were meant to observe silence in the church and claustral
area, and any necessary information was conveyed by making
signs with their hands. To make the sign for fish the monk
used his hand to mimic the motion of the fish’s tail
in water.
Although Byland established a thriving fish-farming
industry, the community would have had to supplement these supplies
by purchasing
fish from markets, and by 1170 Byland was buying fish for the monks
and sick. The community might also secure benefactions of fish
from donors. In the fourteenth century, William de Tamtona granted
Byland the fishery of Stainsby in Cleveland, and various lands
and rights of access for the souls of himself his wife, Helen.
This was to provide thirteen common pittances each year of salmon
or other sea fish and fresh herring, for the monks, brethren and
the infirm. William stipulated that should any ‘visitor,
abbot, prior, or cellarer hinder the above alms from being observed’,
the fishery would remain to himself and his heirs.(73)
![Grant by William de Tamtona of the fishery of Stainsby to Byland, for the souls of himself and his wife, Helen (fourteenth century)[BL MS Stowe Ch 483]](../../images/c3607-02.jpg)