The modern 'pinfold' was built on the site of an earlier structure which was demolished in
1968. But before this, in 1829, a new pinfold was built across the road.
1968. But before this, in 1829, a new pinfold was built across the road.
Two years ago, when I wrote a history of the Bishopthorpe pinfold for the Millennium Trust, there was one thing that puzzled me: Was the pinfold always in the same place?
Bishopthorpe was first surveyed by the Ordnance Survey in 1846 and the resulting map published five years later. On that map, the pinfold is shown near to the entrance to Copmanthorpe Lane. The OS re-surveyed the village in 1891 and this revealed the pinfold tucked into the end of a field - i.e. where the modern, lottery-funded structure is now situated, between Appleton Road and Copmanthorpe Lane.
The 1846 OS Map showing the pinfold built outside Ann Challenger's orchard in 1829 (where the Methodist Church is now situated).
The position of the pinfold surveyed in 1891. This one probably replaced the pinfold (seen above in 1846) that Archbishop Thomson demolished in 1865. At first, I questioned the accuracy of the 1846 survey, but the position of the pinfold at that time was corroborated by another plan produced in the same year by the proposed London & York Railway. I was mystified - why would it be necessary to demolish a brick pinfold and rebuild it a few metres away? I had no answer, but unexpectedly discovered some further information.
Last summer, while researching the Bishopthorpe Manor Court Minute Book, I found that the pinfold had, indeed, been rebuilt in a different position. At a court dated 26 October 1829, an item caught my eye: A "new" pinfold was erected in front of Ann Challenger's orchard - but it was there "under sufferance". The overseer had to pay her two pence per annum as "an acknowledgement that it is to be removed when she may require".
The orchard in question was the long field in which the Methodist Church and the semi-detached houses in Sim Balk Lane are now situated. Whether Mrs. Challenger ever requested the pinfold to be removed is not recorded, but one was taken down some years later by the Lord of the Manor, Archbishop Thomson.
However, Dr. Thomson's "appropriation" of the site of the pinfold for his private use was met with some indignation. At the manor court leet held on the 28 October 1865, twelve local jurymen told the Archbishop's steward that "great public inconvenience" had been experienced by the removal of the pinfold. After all, where would the pinder enclose straying animals that caused a nuisance? The jurymen trusted that the Lord of the Manor would "obviate such inconvenience in future by causing another Pinfold to be erected in some convenient place within the Manor".
It can only be presumed from these two entries - for there are no others concerning the pinfold - that the pound which Archbishop Thomson pulled down was the one situated outside Ann Challenger's orchard. Unfortunately, it is not known why the Archbishop should have removed such a useful structure at the cost of upsetting the Bishopthorpe householders.
Eventually, another pinfold was built and it is likely to be the same one that appears on the 1891 survey. This pinfold remained in situ until 1968 when the Parish Council deemed it an "eyesore" and had it demolished.
In 2007, the base of this pinfold was unearthed and the new, lottery-funded structure was built within its foundations. Bricks made in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were discovered. The earlier bricks suggest that they were re-cycled from a similar structure built some time before 1829; but where that was situated is anyone's guess.
Linda Haywood
Sources
York Reference Library: Ordnance Survey Maps published 1851, 1893.
Borthwick Institute: Manor of Bishopthorpe: CCAb 12/Bis: Minute Book, 1829 - 1911.
York City Archives: (Railway Deposited Plans) DP 2/31, Part 3, Sheet 93; DP 2/33a, Book of Reference, Part 3: Bawtry to York.