Is this true?

[DaceAce]

I'd be amazed if a carp lineage could be traced to the 12th century given that even in living memory the facts get well and truly confused when it gets down to peoples' recall of events regarding stocking, that fish ponds are often drained right down and left fallow - the 'life' of a fish pond is quite short before it needs to be drained and cleared of silt - not impossible that fish ponds could be derelict for centuries, that events like the dissolution of the monasteries and English civil war had a disruptive effect and written records are likely to be sparse. There is evidence that very rich Romans had ornamental and fish-farming fish ponds but what was in them is another matter.

[Snape]

The quote is in the Compleat Angler.

[JerryC]

From all the research that I've carried out in respect of carp in the UK I have never seen any evidence that suggests they were here prior to the mid 14th century at the earliest. Here's a very brief snippet from the online fishing museum.
http://www.fishingmuseum.org.uk/carp_in_britain.html

[Kingfisher]

Hi Kingfisher - are you saying that the trout stillwater you are referring to actually has carp that are the direct desendants of those stocked in the 12th century?

I would have expected that to be very difficult to determine as there could easily have been many further stockings over such a long period.

It would be interesting to see any photo of any carp ever caught from there.

Hi Julian, after doing a bit of research into the lake, I've found nothing that points to the lake being stocked with anything more than trout since the stocking of carp by the cistercian monks. Of course, I may be wrong and I may one day find evidence that proves this wrong. The man who runs the angling club certainly beleives the carp to be "True" wildies.

Here is an exert taken from the wye and usk foundation's website.

Llyngwyn
A natural spring fed 16 acre lake set in quiet countryside, 3 miles from Rhayader and again a Trout Master water. The water holds brown trout but is also re-stocked weekly with rainbows from 1lb to 9lb. 3 boats are available to hire. Interestingly, the lake also hosts a population of wild carp, originally stocked by Cistercian monks in the 12th Century.

I will continue to search for more evidence on the carp's history but the trout are reared in the associations own hatchery and nothing points away from the fact that these carp are anything but the direct descendants of those stocked by the monks. I'd like very much to find the evidence I need that these are the same strain but you're probably right and it is very doubtful.

One thing that I feel I should point out:- Other places have a history of coarse fishing exercised in their pools, whereas, in this area it's been primarily flyfishing, so not many have ever stocked coarsefish here. I used to have to drive over the border back into England if I wanted to go fishing for coarse fish that weren't in our river...ie...chub. There was always the local coarse fishing boating lake but I found that too man-made, other than this nobody has ever looked at LlynGwyn as a coarse fishing lake and therefore it hasn't been stocked with anything but trout over the years.