Ryton, Blaklough Fishery

Blaklough in 1344. 'Bloec' is old English for 'black', 'luh' means lough, lke or pool. This fishery was near Ryton. The line of an old fish weir is marked on the 1st edition 6" Ordnance Survey map running diagonally across the river from Island House on the north bank to Signal Point on the south at approximately NZ 150 652. This could be this site. The main catch would have been salmon, but in fact a wider range of fish would have been taken (eg. Eels, pike, minnow, burbot, trout and lamprey' {G.N. Garmondsway (ed), 1939, 'Aelfric's Colloquy', pp 101-2}.