Snegeyare Fishery

Snegezare in 1403, Snegyare in 1406 and 1410. 'Snegge' is Middle English for 'snail' but is only recorded in southern sources. 'Snag' is a C16 word for a tree stump or a trunk or branch of a tree embedded in the bottom of a river forming an impediment to navigation. Therefore this may be an earlier variant of the word referring to a type of weir or trap. 'Snegga' is old English for a trap or snare. 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}.