Site of fish pond, former Castle Gardens, west of Canal Row, Newtownards, Co. Down, BT23 3NU

Site of fish pond, former Castle Gardens, west of Canal Row, Newtownards

This is the site of a large T-shaped fish pond, measuring approximately 71 metres by 68 metres (around 220–230 feet long by 40 feet wide), which formerly stood in the Castle Gardens to the west of Canal Row. The pond had earth retaining banks and was reportedly about 10 feet deep. Its origins remain uncertain. While it may possibly be associated with the nearby medieval priory of Newtown, evidence suggests it was not cut out until the late 18th or early 19th centuries.

The land on which it stood was enclosed by Hugh Montgomery in the early 1600s. Montgomery had inherited land belonging to the medieval priory, whose ruins he repaired and adapted for use as the parish church. He also built himself a substantial mansion around 1611–18 just to the south of the church, and either built or repaired the boundary wall around his Castle Garden, adding flanking towers. The entire plot, together with all Montgomery's other holdings in Newtownards, was acquired by Captain Robert Colvill in 1675. Colvill remodelled the house, which had been largely destroyed by fire in 1664, and built a chapel next to the church. The Colvill lands were purchased by Alexander Stewart in 1744, but the site was gradually abandoned by the new owner.

The history of the pond itself is obscure. On a Colvill map dated 1720, the site is marked 'Big Garden' with no indication of a pond. Walter Harris, writing in the early 1740s, makes no mention of it in his detailed description of the enclosed area. The pond first appears on the 1834 Ordnance Survey map and is marked 'fish pond' on the 1858–60 edition, suggesting it was cut out sometime during the later 18th or early 19th centuries. However, it remains impossible to determine its true age with certainty; it could be medieval but may have remained unused during later centuries and thus unrecorded, or it may be a later creation entirely.

By the mid-19th century, the old church served as a courthouse between 1817 and 1850, and a large flax mill was sited within the former Castle Garden itself, with rear gardens of newly built houses on Court Street to the north of the wall.

The pond was completely filled in in 1975. The site now bears no visible trace of its former existence, being covered by grass and tarmac. The site is protected under monuments legislation.