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Over the last few days I have been attending a digital marketing course in Kingston, a town that received its official incorporation charter from King Edward IV in 1481.

Edward IV was twice King of England (1461-1470, 1471-1483) after having won the struggle against the Lancastrians to establish the House of York. He was succeeded by Edward V (1483-1483) who later gave way to the topical King Richard III (1483-1485) recently found under the letter ‘R’ in a car park in Leicester. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-21063882

The Royal Borough of Kingston was given the right to use a common seal, this being a design using three salmon commemorating the three salmon fisheries in the Thames at Kingston that were recorded in William The Conqueror’s Domesday Book of 1086.

Salmon sculpture depicting the three salmon fisheries as detailed by William The Conquerer on the Thames near Kingston.

Salmon sculpture depicting the three salmon fisheries as detailed by William The Conquerer on the Thames near Kingston.

Across the road from where I am attending the course is a sculpture depicting three magnificent salmon and further back down the road is the Tiffin Boys School that also uses the three salmon for the schools motif. The original seal depicted the three salmon on a shield below a lion, different to the current logo that shows the fish under a crown.

For those that my be unaware the occasional salmon and sea trout still make their way up the Thames. I have heard of these being caught up near Chertsey Lock and several sea trout fallen to spinner near Hampton Court Palace.

To support this claim of salmon in the Thames between Richmond and Hampton Court I recall a conversation with a close friend who once lived in a magnificent house in Ormond Road in Richmond where the cellar was known to have been used as a salting room for salmon caught in the Thames.