MONKS AND SALMON. 311 



It appears, therefore, that no less than eighteen bishops, 

 out of twenty- seven, preside over dioceses that either do 

 produce salmon, or ought to produce salmon. 



The following cathedrals are built upon rivers that 

 were never salmon rivers, and never will be, because 

 they are not naturally adapted for that fish — viz., Lin- 

 coln, Norwich, Ely, and Peterborough ; still, if there 

 are no salmon, there is a good supply of fish of a coai'ser 

 kind. St. David's, Chichester, and Bangor are near the 

 sea-coast ; and Lichfield, as far as I know, is not in a 

 fish-producing country at all. Manchester, Liverpool, 

 &c., have been founded of late years only. 



These facts, of the connection of cathedi-als with sal- 

 mon rivers, I think can be easily accounted for, inas- 

 much aswhenmonasterieswere first established, previous 

 to cathedrals themselves being built, the founders 

 selected sheltered localities where, for the most part, 

 they could get a good water-carriage, and, at the same 

 time, a plentiful supply of freshwater fish, especially 

 salmon, for the use of the table on fast-days. 



It sometimes, moreover, happens that in the neigh- 

 bourhood of old abbeys we now find remains of the weirs 

 which had been erected by the monks to ''facilitate the 

 catching of fish," and which, by the Salmon Act of 1861, 

 would now properly be described as "fishing weirs" — 

 often, " fishing mill dams." This is especially the case 

 on the Wye. Within a few hundi-ed yards of Tintern 

 Abbey can be seen a ripple in the river, indicating the 

 existence of an old weir, which I was informed by Mr. 

 Alex. Miller, lessee of the fishery, was the remains of a 

 fishing weir belonging to the monks of Tintern. I was 

 anxious on entering Tintern Abbey to find other traces 

 of salmon, and with this idea examined all the old tomb- 

 stones. In the south aisle, about the fourth or fifth 



