File:Pond Bay, River Ray - geograph.org.uk - 962463.jpg

English: Pond Bay, River Ray. The ditch that curves away from the camera, and the embankment on its right is part of medieval pond bay, which is marked as such on OS maps. This was an embankment or dam across a stream, with a sluice to control the level of water. The purpose of these constructions is not always known. In some cases they were associated with iron-making, in others as fish ponds for religious or manor houses, or connected with milling. In this case, the stream was the River Ray, 959614, which flows behind the camera. The sluice may have been located by the dip or gap in the embankment as it curves to the left. There are medieval fish ponds at Grange Farm in the hamlet of Shipton Lee 1km to the south-east, SP73462082, and on this site was Lee Grange, formerly the manor-house of the Abbots of Thame, a Cistercian order. The house however was taken down in the middle of the 18th century by John Dormer, the then resident, when a large sum of money was found in a cavity in a beam. Given that the land around Shipton Lee was owned by Thame Abbey, and religious houses and monastic granges were prominent in exploiting the land, the pond bay may be connected to Lee Grange.