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Leyden, MA Town Pound
The Leyden Town Pound is located near the top of the hill on the east side of Middle County Road. It measures 33 x 33 feet. The present owner has restored a few stones to the top of the walls; otherwise, it is an excellent state of preservation.
When was it built?
The early history of Leyden, Massachusetts is covered in the "History of the Town of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts" by Lucy C. Kellog. Ms. Kellog writes, "The next year [1764] a pound about 34 feet square was projected, but of its proposed location, or as to whether it was really built, there is nothing to determine. Upon it was expended 12 days' work and as much team work as necessary." pp. 39
Is the Leyden Town Pound the same as the one described above?
The Leyden pound measures 33 feet square and the quotations says 34 feet. The 34 feet is probably a misprint. 33 feet equals 2 rods (16 1/2 ft). “Rod” was the commonly used measurement during the 18th century and was used in the same way that we use "yards" today.
The square shaped layout and thick wide stone walls are typical of the late 1700's and early 1800's town pounds. The use of large stones on bottom section of the wall and then gradually smaller size stone as it nears to the top of the wall is also a consistent with this time period. The large stones would have been drag on stone sleds pulled by draft horse or oxen team and rolled off the sleds into place. The comment in the town history "as much team work as necessary" is likely a reference to the use of one or more horse / oxen teams.
The stone size gradually becoming smaller with the height of the wall is a product of the maximum height a man can raise a given weight. The higher the stone need to be lifted, the lighter it needs to be. Suffice to say, the pound was built by hand without the aid of gin pole, shear pole, tripod, or other lifting devise.
There is no evidence of the stone being quarried or blasted. This is consistent with a pre-1790 construction date (field stone structures continued to be built well into the late 1800's, so, this is not a diagnostic dating method by itself, but, combined with the other evidence it is useful). There see no evidence of gate hinges being attached to the entrance stonework by means of a drilled hole. The gate was probably hung on a wooden post. Although, tools for drilling round holes for adding iron hardware to stone was available in the mid 1700's, these tools were general quite rare in the American colonies prior to the 1790's.
The pound has roughly 124 linear feet of stone wall. A 2 or 3 man team can built about 8-10 feet of good stone wall a day. At that rate, it would take between 12 and 15 days to construct the pound. This is once again consistent with the town history which states "upon it was expended 12 days' work".
It is reasonable to conclude that Leyden Town Pound and the pound described in the town history are same. The evidence supports a cons
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