Elsdon Pinfold

I think pinfolds are my new favourite thing to find as most of them are actually hiding in plain sight. Some aren't too dissimilarto what they were back to in the day, whereas others have been converted to pretty gardens with flowers and mini waterfalls.

The Elsdon Pinfold has just been gravelled and converted into a little seating area for you to trough your Fruity Malt.

A couple of years back you would just let your cattle munch on the grass in the village green, but you had to keep your eye on them in case they wandered off.

If they legged it too far then the Cattle Catcher (I imagine a bit like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) would swoop in and round them up into the pinfold.

I assume there was some sort of announcement about the capture, a bit like hearing the tanoy in Woolworths about a lost child. Or maybe you just had a peep in the pinfold every now and again if you found one of your flock was missing.

You'd then have to part with a couple of coins to get your naughty cow or sheep back.

I wonder if there was some sort of illegal betting ring amongst the cows and sheep to see who could wander off the furthest before they got caught. I also wonder how many owners actually came to collect their more troublesome cattle!

Although Google maps only tells you about a few, I bet if you had a good look in most villages in Northumberland, you might be able to find a pinfold. That's our new challenge!