There are literally hundreds of sheepfolds dotted about the Lake District. Some are no more than tiny single roomed enclosures or even just a short section of wall often referred to as a bield, while others can be quite large and complex structures made up of many separate quarters.

Although there are no hard and fast conventions, a reasonable rule of thumb is that the smaller more exposed folds and bields were simply used as shelters by the sheep. During snow storms the sheep would instinctively head for these shelters. The shepherds obviously knew where these shelters were, so they would know where to head first when they were on the fells digging sheep out of the snow drifts. The larger, more complex sheepfolds on the other hand would be used by the shepherds for a variety of purposes. These ones are generally found lower down the fells and as I've began to notice myself, they are quite often built next to a beck or at the joining of two streams. Amongst other things, these larger sheepfolds would be used by the shepherd if he needed to doctor his flock for some reason, but didn't necessarily need to take them down as far as the farm. Another reason would be when shepherds from neighbouring farms and dales would arrange to round up sheep from the surrounding fells. They'd all meet up at the same sheepfold with whatever sheep they'd gathered. Then they'd set about picking out their own strays.
 

I always seem to have gained a degree of satisfaction, quickly followed by a bout of inquisitiveness whenever I've passed by one of these folds or ruins for the first time. So a couple of years ago I decided to begin collecting photos of the many sheepfolds and ruins I pass while I'm out walking. Even though at that stage I had no idea what I was going to do with them, it still seemed like a good idea at the time. By the time the last half of 2008 had came around I'd managed to photograph almost 100 of them without really needing to go out of my way. So, with 100 seeming like a nice round figure, I spent some time deciding how I was going to present them on the website, I then spent a couple of months developing this section of the website and lastly I set about back filling it with all the pictures I'd accumulated. I also made a conscious decision that during 2009 I'd start going out of my way to photograph sheepfolds that are found in some of the more obscure parts in the Lake District. Needless to say 2009 turned into a year of constantly trying to keep the website up to date with all the new sheepfolds I was visiting. As a result of all this activity I've spent many, many evenings adding recently visited sheepfolds and ruins onto the website.

I'm not sure how to explain what I've tried to achieve by putting together this section of the website.  Although for myself personally, the main reason has to be that by visiting all these sheepfolds I've taken myself into some truly hidden corners of the Lake District; places that I wouldn't otherwise have been to. As far as the website goes, a great deal of thought went into how to organise and present everything. The obvious drawback is that as individuals, there are only so many things you can say about a sheepfold or a ruin, particularly when most of them aren't named, probably have no history to talk about anyway, and many of them aren't even marked on a map. So, rather then offer them as a meaningless list with a collection of photos linked to it, I've tried to be a little more visual by using maps to show their locations and hopefully convey the sheer quantity to be found. Most importantly though, this is a record of the condition of the sheepfolds and ruins at a specific point in time. Obviously the pictures needed to be viewed from some point on the site, so I've added the links to the photos straight onto the maps.