Fish was central to the monastic diet and Byland
therefore 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.(17)
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.(18)
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. (19)