Site record MDR4781 - Fishponds (site of), Parkgate Farm, Horsley

Five rectangular fishponds were identified at Parkgate Farm, c. SK 38004405, by Trent & Peak Archaeological Trust as part of the Amber Valley survey. All are quite well preserved and contained by a bank 1m high. (1) About 500m southeast of the village of Horsley, in the field behind Park Gate Farm, lies a set of fishponds. The field was named as Fish Ponds in the 1844 Tithe Award. The ponds are contained in a bank about 1.5m high which skirts the road running to the northwest. Two long rectangular ponds about 75cm deep are dug into the southern side of this bank. A third pond is open at the south-eastern end; this links with another pond about 20cm deep, which has a low L-shaped bank across its mouth. A fifth pond about 10cm deep is set within and parallel to the main bank. A hollow way and two indistinct platforms lie within the same field to the southwest of the fishponds. (2) Reviewed (2026), with both LiDAR and aerial photography the Medieval fishponds are visible still and in relatively good condition.