Pinfold Traditional Cache
This cache has been locked, but it is available for viewing.
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This can be an easy drive by cache or a convenient place to picnic.
The pinfold was cleared and a picnic table was placed here, for the
use of visitors, by the villagers of Airton as part of their
Millennium celebrations. There is room for parking by the village
green. The word ‘Pinfold’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon pund, and
fold, i.e. a pound and enclosure. These small enclosures, usually
rectangular in shape, surrounded by high stone walls, entered
through a gate wide enough to admit a single beast and often
containing a little building to serve as a cowshed and stable for
stray cattle and horses were once a common sight in Dales‘
villages. The importance of the pinfold diminished over the
centuries until many were neglected and fell to rubble. A pinfold
that remains intact is an interesting piece of history. Although
the pinfold, in Airton, conforms to the description above, I am
reliably informed that the Airton Pinfold has not been used in this
way for well over a hundred years & this fact has probably
preserved it for posterity. In the small stone shed is a water pump
and sheep brought down from the ‘tops’ were watered here from the
stone trough, which still remains, though not in its original
location, before being driven on to Bell Busk station. The pump
belonged to the farm opposite, built by prominent Quaker William
Vipoint and bearing a date stone of 1666, the year of The Great
Fire of London. From this cache can also be seen the 17th century
squatter’s cottage on the green. In those days a person who could
build a house on common land within 24 hours could claim squatters’
rights for as long as he occupied it. A wooden hut with a turf roof
would have been hastily constructed, often with the help of
relatives. When rights had been established and acknowledged a
stone building would be built outside the hut and, when nearly
finished, the original hut would be pulled down and removed through
the doorway of the new, stone building, thus ensuring continuity of
occupation! Beyond the squatters’ cottage is the house of William
& Ann Ellis, two pioneers of the Quaker movement and opposite
that is a Quaker Meeting House, still used. Airton was,
essentially, a Quaker village. Below these important buildings is
the old water mill, now converted into apartments but still
displaying above the roof the bell which called the villagers to
work. There are villagers who can still recall the clatter of clogs
as the workers made their way to the mill. This cache is one of
seven to be visited to gather co-ordinates for A Malhamdale Meander
Challenge multi cache. Part of the co-ordinates for that cache are
fixed to the bottom of this cache and written on the cover of the
log book. As this cache is in a public place and so vulnerable to
accidental discovery, please re-hide it VERY carefully in
accordance with the instructions which you will find in the
box!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Nqwnprag gb gur tngr
Treasures
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