Medieval pinfold.


The parish pinfold for Kirk Michael stood in Glen Wyllin on the inland side of the main road between Peel and Kirk Michael. It is shown and annotated on the Ordnance Survey 1:2500 First Edition mapping of 1869, adjacent to the garden of a property now known as Glen Wyllin House, and was centred at the grid reference provided.


In 1940 the pinfold was described as 27 feet square, and located 20 feet below the level of the main road, at the foot of the embankment on which the highway is supported. Its walls were of stone and the entrance was located at the south end of the east wall (this would have been at approximately SC3153490205). There was no lintel, and the access was by way of a steep path.


The north and east walls have been significantly compromised by improvements to the adjacent road junction, but the line of the west and south walls is still apparent.


Each parish was responsible for the maintenance and repair of its own pinfold. Their origins are uncertain although an early statute of 1422 confirms that the customary laws relating to their maintenance and use were already well established.