Cascade and remains of eel trap and house

Reasons for Designation

The cascade and the remains of the eel trap and house at Patshull are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* They form a contemporary group which uses the flow of water from Pasford Pool for both functional and ornamental use. * The eel trap is a rare survival of such a purpose-built structure * The group dates from the late-C18 and as such has strong association with other listed garden structures within the parkland

Details

486/0/10014

PATTINGHAM AND PATSHULL
Cascade and remains of eel trap and house

06-JUL-09

II

Cascade, adjacent eel trap and remains of house. Of probable late-C18 date. The cascade, eel traps and house stand on the western side of a teardrop-shaped pond, Pasford Pool, which is fed from the north by a stream running off the Great Pool. The water flows from this pond through the eel trap or over the cascade to join Pasford brook.

MATERIALS: The eel traps are constructed of sandstone rubble with red brick voussoirs; the remains of the house above of sandstone rubble with red brick window sills. The cascade is hewn from sandstone with a section of sandstone block coursing at its top. The southern side of the pond is bounded to west and south with sandstone block wall.

CASCADE: Water may be directed over the cascade at the south-west end of the pond. It falls over a gap in the revetment wall, now containing iron railings, and down a steep sandstone cliff approximately 5 metres in height. The water then runs along a small but steeply sided gulley and onto Pasford Brook.

EEL TRAP AND HOUSE: The water flows through the sluice gates on the west side of the pond under the `house' and through two round-arched openings. Water issuing from southern opening falls into Pasford Brook. That to the north emergences into a pen built on a sandstone platform with an iron grille to the down stream end. There are high sandstone rubble walls to north and south side.

The remains of a house stands between the trap and the sluice. This is a rectangular shell which at its highest stands to about 2 metres. In front of the building, to the east side are the sluice gates to the pond. These are wooden C20 replacements. The pond revetment walls here are slightly higher with flat concrete coping.

HISTORY: George Pigot's late-C18 landscaping of Patshull Park extended south into Pattingham parish and included the eel trap and cascade. Certainly it seems likely that the pool is contemporary with Church Pool and the Great Pool as a southern outlier to the scheme, controlling the flow of water before it rejoins Pasford Brook below the cascade. The cascade is depicted on the 1841 tithe map as Patshull Pool and Cascade.

The 1841 Tithe Apportionment records the building east of the traps as a house. According to locals it was used as accommodation with a succession of families occupying it from the late-C19 until the 1920s, after which point it fell into disrepair. A photo from c.1950 shows the building without a roof, with one window either side of a central doorway.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: The cascade and the remains of the eel trap and house at Patshull are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

* They form a contemporary group which uses the flow of water from Pasford Pool for both functional and ornamental use.
* The eel trap is a rare survival of such a purpose-built structure
* The group dates from the late-C18 and as such has strong association with other listed garden structures within the parkland

SOURCES: D.H. Robinson, The Wandering Worfe: Story of a Shropshire River (1980) 90-93
Victoria County History Staffordshire XX pg. 161
Pattingham Tithe Map and Apportionment 1841

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

506869

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

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