After a magnificent day's fishing yesterday in which I managed to catch a couple of the resident browns on dries (in August!), I'm interested if anyone knows much about the history of England's oldest trout fishery? Am particularly interested in its early days. Am not local to the Northampton area but would be willing to make a trip to museums/libraries etc.

T

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Give a man a fish, and you'll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he'll starve to death while praying for a fish.

There is some debate between Ravensthorpe & Blagdon to which Reservoir is the oldest, when it comes to trout fishing.

Ravensthorpe was constructed between 1886 and 1890 - Blagdon didn't fill until 1904 - however, when they became trout fisheries is another matter.

I first fished Ravensthorpe in the early 70's and being a Cornish lad I found it a bit strange fishing for trout in what I considered to be a muddy 'lake'!

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[I]"I still don't know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes us think and feel."[/I] Roderick L Haig-Brown

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Thats the debate I guess When They became trout fisheries offering day permits. Thornton was built 1853, the fishing for many years being private, first fished by the Duke & Duches of Warwickshire then became a private syndicate for many years with day permits only becoming available in the early 70s.