Putcher fishing

Putcher fishing is a type of fishing (usually of salmon) which employs a large number of putcher baskets, set in a fixed wooden frame, against the tide in a river estuary, notably on the River Severn, in England and South East Wales. Putchers are placed in rows, standing four or five high, in a wooden "rank" set out against the incoming and/or outgoing tides.

Traditionally the putcher was made of hazel rods with withy (willow) plait, both materials being grown locally on the Caldicot and Wentloog Levels. Modern baskets made of steel or aluminium wire were introduced in the 1940s and 1950s.

The trapping of fish is probably one of the oldest known forms of fishing. The exact origin of putcher fishing along the River Severn is not known, but a memorial song recorded in 1663 mentions two fixed engines operating “between the Hill and the Pile” – undoubtedly references to Hill Farm and the Pill Reen or “Monksditch” at Goldcliff. Evidence for the use of putchers in medieval times has recently been revealed during construction of the Second Severn Crossing

A salmon fishery of some kind was probably in operation at the time of the Priory at Goldcliff and then passed, at the time of the Dissolution, to Eton College. In the 1920s there were ranks holding some 2,400 baskets. The revenue from this enterprise provided an endowment to the Church of the Blessed Virgin at Eton. In addition, fresh salmon were provided for the breakfast of the scholars at the college. The fishery was owned for much of the later part of the twentieth century by Mr John Williams who employed one full-time fisherman Mr Wyndham Howells. The lease for the fishery was subsequently taken over by a Newport fishmonger. The fishery at Porton was acquired in 1902 by the Pontypool Park Estate and was for many years run during the fishing season run by Mr Keyte, a member of a long-established family of Goldcliff farmers.

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