Town and Manor of Hungerford

Town and Manor of Hungerford is a charitable trust based in the Berkshire town, and it runs three fly fishing syndicates between them. The Main Fishery holds ten beats on the River Kennet, running downstream from Chilton Foliat to Avington. Hungerford Marsh Fishery and Freeman’s Marsh Fishery both sit on the River Dun, the stream that joins the Kennet at Hungerford; the Dun is not one of the rivers FishingBeats lists separately, so these two waters are described here in prose rather than linked.

On the Main Fishery a member holds a full rod and can fish all seven days of the week. Hungerford Marsh Fishery is about 950 metres of the Dun with its own fishing hut, water that has produced wild trout to 5.5lb; it is fished on one nominated day a week, and members may bring guests. Freeman’s Marsh Fishery lies about a kilometre upstream of Hungerford Marsh, also on the Dun, and is shallower and more wild in character; it too is fished on a nominated day. The season opens on 1 May, and grayling fishing continues on all three waters through December.

Fishing has been organised here since 1876, when the Wilton Fly Fishing Club first took the water at Hungerford, and the trust has carried the fishery on since.

There are no day tickets. Membership is by annual waiting list, reviewed each year, so a place depends on when one comes up rather than on application alone. Enquiries go to the trust’s clerk on clerk@townandmanor.co.uk or 01488 686555, and more detail is on townandmanor.co.uk.