See caption
Pinfold on Heath CommonVillage in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, noted for its ancient common and the number of "mansions" around it.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

A pinfold, or pound, was in medieval times an enclosure in the charge of a pinder, to which stray domestic animals, cattle, sheep, pigs and even geese were taken, where they were kept until their owners paid a fine for their release.[1][2]

The word pinfold is derived from the Old English pund, meaning a pound, and fald, a pen or enclosure. Pinfold is commonly used in the north, north-west and east of the country, and pound is common further south and south-west.[3]

References

  1.  
  2.  
  3.  

Bibliography

Bosworth, Joseph, and T. Northcote Toller. “Pund.” An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Based on the Manuscript Collections of the Late Joseph Bosworth, Online, Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014, https://bosworthtoller.com/57007.
OED. “PInfold.” Oxford English Dictionary, Online, Oxford University Press, 2023, https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=pinfold.
OED. “Pinder.” Oxford English Dictionary, Online, Oxford University Press, 2023, https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=pinder.