Once it was said the hauls of herring landed at Fishguard were so great that the fields of West Wales were spread with the excess catch. And if this sounds balmy, decomposing fish would make a good (if environmentally expensive and pretty maloderous) fertiliser. When I read this I then remembered that the farmers of the great Inca Empire of Peru were said to do a similar thing. Before planting their maize seed, they dibbed a hole and dropped a fish in first to feed the growing plant. I’m assuming it wasn’t a fresh one that could otherwise have been eaten.
The sculpture (maker not credited) sits beside the harbour in Lower Fishguard and commemorates the town’s rich herring days. The trade was already established by the 900s CE when the Vikings, who spent a lot of time raiding Wales and Ireland, left off pillaging for a bit of fish buying. These rapacious sea-raiders called the little inlet Fiskigarðr and this, according to the town web page, means ‘fish catching enclosure’ in Old Norse. The name Fiscard in fact hung on for centuries after the Vikings were long gone, and only Anglicised at the end of the 19th century. The Welsh name is of course quite different, and probably these days more geographically useful. Abergwaun means the mouth of the Gwaun River.
The herring industry scaled reached industrial heights in the late 18th century. Fifty Fishguard coastal vessels were bringing in catches that were sold in Ireland and the English ports of Bristol and Liverpool. Oats were the other main export, the crop doubtless well fish-nourished on the fields of the West Wales hinterland. It now becomes clear why the town’s shipping was targeted by the American privateer Black Prince in 1779 (see previous post). It looked like the town would be good for £1000 ransom fee. But then looks can be deceptive.
Tish Farrell 
History, lines, blue skies and sculpture fish clouds . . . a girl couldn’t ask for any thing more!
That’s so very nice of you, Becky 🙂
😍
Thanks for this…I have long wondered how Abergwaun translates to Fishguard….now I know it doesn’t, in the literal sense…
Well I’m v. glad you wondered about this, Sue i.e. that it’s not just me pondering on such things 🙂
Yay!
Love the sculpture!! Lovely images and morsels of history Tish,
Thanks, Su. Always appreciate your good company.
Love the fish sculpture, Tish, and what a beautiful shot down on the town! Happy Sunday 🙂 🙂
Happy Sunday you two too 🙂
You have some very interesting lines to tell. I am thoroughly enjoying learning about this part of Wales.
That’s so nice to hear, Jude. There seems to be an awful lot to say about Pembrokeshire. We certainly had our 5-days’ worth there 🙂
It is a lovely (and large) area. The Gower is also lovely, have you explored there?
No, that’s definitely one of the list.
Not so long ago we were sure that there was a giant hole in the middle of the world where all the trash went and there would always be enough of everything. Oh, were that true!
In the Maldives they were sinking concrete silos into the ocean off their sea-level main island, and filling it up with tourist garbage. The possible redeeming feature of this (apparently) is that the concrete was soon being colonised and becoming a new reef.
I’m not a fan of the sculpture (tho I’ve seen way worse, chuckle), but that’s a very pretty little town. Lovely photo.
Alison
I agree, it’s a bit of an odd creation, but yes, it’s a lovely town and a great cafe in the boat club at the end of the quay.
Immediately put me in mind of this:
O the work was hard and the hours long
And the treatment, sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring
Nice one, Robin.
Reblogged this on Hutt's World of People.
Cheers, Pete 🙂