The Hungerford Fishery's records stretch back well over a century and a half — long before the Town and Manor formalised the Commoners' rights that still govern the water today. The pieces below, drawn from the Fishery's own archive, trace that thread: an 1851 letting notice from when the fishing rights were still advertised for rent, an 1884 magazine piece on grayling fishing here, a pre-1908 advert still using the old “Feoffees” language that predates the modern Commoners' system, and two catch records — a 16lb fish from 1911 and a 5lb 6oz River Dun trout from 1953 — that give some sense of what the Kennet and Dun have produced over the decades.
Advertisement for letting of Hungerford Fishery, 28th September 1851
Grayling fishing at Hungerford
From The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 25th October 1884
An advert from before 1908
Still mentioning Feoffees rather than Commoners — supplied by Susan Hofgartner
"Caught at Hungerford, 24th July 1911. Weight 16lbs. Length 3ft 6″" — A Parsons
River Dun trout, 5lb 6oz, caught 30th August 1953