Agricultural History Review, Volume 39 Part 2 (1991), pp. 97–107

The carp, by the admission of most authoritative fish farmers and pisciculturists, is one of the most important food fish in the world• However, their origins are shrouded in mythology. Even where serious attempts have been made to trace the origins of this fish in the British Isles, the difficulty in distinguishing myth from reality has clouded the issue. This essay attempts to put the introduction of the carp to the British Isles in its correct historic perspective. Changes in the management of estates over the period c1250-1400 prompted the growth of commercial fish keeping and this created a situation into which the introduction of the carp was appropriate. The early history of the species in England is traced, and attempts to explain their rise to dominance nationally are expounded. 

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