Crawcrook, Dinesfordes pul Fishery

Dinesfordes pul in 1128, Buresfurdes pul. 'Pol' is Old English for a pool or a pool in the river. It may have come to mean the 'burh's ford'. 'Bur' is old English for a cottage or dwelling. (ge)bur is Old English for a peasant. i.e. peasant's ford. A gebur was an Anglo-Saxon man of servile origin who had been set up in semi-free state by his lord on a sizeable farm and provided with a house and onerous duties in return. It might refer to what was later called Stanners Ford at NZ 133 654. The fishery belonged to the bishop of Durham. 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}.