Pinfolds

Stray Animal Compounds
(also used as resting place for cattle..see Heworth, below)

Most towns would have had a compound, known as a pinfold, to secure animals that had strayed. They would be kept there until the owners paid for their release. For Gateshead, we have only traced photographs of three pinfolds

Ryton Village

This compound once had a stream running thro it


This has been restored by Ryton Heritage Group and it's worth a visit. It's in the lovely Old Ryton Village


As you can see, the walls and doorway are not very high, so it must have been for animals smaller than horses and cattle

Crawcrook

This one has a bigger gate and high walls

The only other one we know of that was photographed was the pinfold stray animal compound at Heworth.



The original Wheatsheaf pub was next to the pinfold in Nether Heworth and many vestry meetings were held in the parlour early in the 19th century, instead of at the presbytery across the road. Cattle drovers used the Wheatsheaf to quench their thirsts, while their animals rested in the enclosure. The building was pulled down in about 1898, when the North Eastern Railway Company, to make a cutting crossed by a new bridge, excavated a tunnel.

Would love to know of any more pinfolds

Gateshead Pinfolds brought to you by



              The Felling Heritage Group