Image ID: 05313

The Pinfold, Flintham

Courtesy of Reg Baker

Main Street
Flintham
England

At the eastern extremity of the village. In his book 'The Pinfolds of Nottinghamshire: a Gazeteer' (Nottinghamshire County Council, 1992) Philip Lyth notes that the Flintham Pinfold is 18ft 6ins in diameter, and that the walls (of brick) are 4ft 2ins high. The latter, he notes, is a reduction on the original height which would have been nearer 7 or 8 ft (as at the neighbouring villages of Screveton and Scarrington). Mr Lyth dates the Flintham Pinfold to the early 19th century. The Flintham Pinfold was restored to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 1977. This picture was taken just over a year after that restoration. The name pinfold started out as the Old English 'pundfald', made up from two words very similar in meaning: a pound and a fold. Pinfolds are also known as pounds and are purpose-built enclosures where stray animals used to be kept until reclaimed by their owners, upon payment of a fee to the pinner (or pinder) who was responsible for rounding up any strays. One of the rules of a Shepherds' Society was 'That all pinders possessing books of sheep marks, if any sheep shall come into their hands belonging to any members of this society, shall inform them of, or take them to their respective owners, who shall pay them reasonably for their trouble.' Many villages had a pinfold. Some have either disappeared completely, or had sections of their walls incorporated into other boundaries, but many have been restored such as the one at Flintham (see NCCE000774)

Date: 03/10/1978

Organisation Reference: NCCE000774

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