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As part of our ever-growing series on the jobs, professions, and workplaces of Derbyshire, local historian Peter Seddon offers some musings on the livestock markets of Derby, including a look at an archaic position still annually up for grabs.

The open-air general market in Derby's Morledge in 1932, a legacy of the time up until the 1860s when weekly livestock markets were held on the same spot

At a meeting of Derby City Council on 23 May 2007, item 1 one on the agenda was 'To elect the Mayor of the city for the next municipal year'. Nothing surprising about that - they'd done the same for years.

But item 4 on the agenda might have raised an eyebrow or two among the uninitiated: 'To appoint the 'Pinder and Tenter' for the next municipal year'.

In the event the job was given unopposed - as it had been for some years previously - to the incumbent Derby City Council Markets Manager Dennis Wardle.

This unusual cameo represented one of a number of archaic procedural traditions still perpetuated by Derby City Council.

The position of 'Pinder and Tenter' pre-dates even the office of Mayor. A 'Pinder' is responsible for rounding up stray animals - literally putting them securely in the 'Pinfold'. And a 'Tenter' was a cloth worker - one imagines he was responsible for erecting the traditional canvass-sided animal pens on market days.

So if you should ever see a man chasing cows or pigs around Derby City Centre carrying a mallet and tent-pegs, it will be Dennis Wardle.

Of course there was once a very genuine need for the Pinder, for livestock markets were held in the streets, and 'escapes' were quite common.

The 'official' history of Derby's livestock markets goes back over 850 years. When King Henry II granted the town its first charter in 1154, one of the principal rights enshrined in it was the holding of markets.

As a result, Derby developed a long-established tradition for holding a weekly market for cattle, sheep and pigs. Up until the middle of the nineteenth century, this was located on the Morledge.

In 1861 it moved to a site on the area of land known as The Holmes - to the rear of what later became the bus station.

The livestock market remained there for over a hundred years, dealing with as many as 170,000 animals a year just prior to the First World War.

Centenary celebrations of the cattle market took place in January 1962. Facilities were progressively updated until the market was forced to relocate due to the creation of Derby's new inner ring road.

The old market was duly demolished, and a new purpose-built cattle market on Chequers Road was opened on 5 June 1970 by Lord Hives. Soon it was selling over 100,000 head of cattle, sheep and pigs each trading year.

A number of related Derby markets have long been discontinued. From 1773 an annual Horse Fair was held in Friar Gate, and a Cheese Fair took place on nearby Nun's Green. There was also a 'pinfold' on Nun's Green in which straying cattle were secured. This was watched over by the aforesaid 'Pinder' - which is where we came in.

If you have memories of the 'old' Derby Cattle Market behind the bus station, you can post them here. Either create a brand new article, or just click 'edit' and begin writing below.

• 'Pinder and Tenter' - All Applicants Considered

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County:  Derbyshire

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