 Historic documents show that due to the abundance of fish in the River Severn, such as sturgeon, salmon, lamprey and alosinae or shad, fishing was a vital source of food, employment and trade from medieval times until the 19th century, when construction of navigation weirs, to assist the increasingly large vessels traverse the River Severn, led to a rapid decline in the fish population.St Augustine's Manor House in Arlingham stood on the site of the present St. Augustine's farmhouse.The earliest record of Arlingham church is in 1146, when the founder, Roger of Berkeley, a member of the Berkeley family and Baron of Dursley gave Arlingham church and its possessions to the Priory of St Leonard Stanley (a Cell of St, Peter's, Gloucester Abbey, which in 1541 became Gloucester Cathedral).