MDE8248 - Poult House on Molland Common (Monument)

The building provided shelter for the owner and guests shooting game on the moor. It appeared as a ruin on aerial photographs taken in 1946, and had been demolished by 1970. Some fragmentary features remain.

SS 8103 2991. The remains of a building shown on the 1891 6 inch Ordnance Survey map [1] and annotated "Poult House". It was still upstanding, though unroofed, in 1946 when aerial photographs [2] reveal it had an entrance central to the east side. The 1970 aerial photographs [3] show it had been completely demolished. The site is now visible as an amorphous turf covered flat topped platform 0.5 metres high and 8.5 metres north to south by 7.0 metres. The footings of a wall at ground level, 0.6 metres long, and two wooden stumps on the west side of the platform are the only identifiable remains of the building. There is a slight scarp, some 0.3 metres high, and 8 metres long, curving around the northeastern side about 7 metres from the platform. The area to the southeast is scattered with small stones, probably a result of the demolition of the building. The building was set in the northwest curving angle of a post-medieval field system delineated by heather and turf banks (see MDE8252) and may have been contemporaneous. [4,5] SS 8105 2995. A levelled area partially covered by grass with scatter of stones and tiles. The building was of stone and lime mortar, a slate roof and clay ridge tiles. It is visible on historic mapping and aerial photographs. It was constructed as a shelter and place to eeat for the owner and guests shooting game on the Moor, with lunches brought from Moneyhole. Beaters would eat their lunch of bread and cheese outside, standing up. [6] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [7] The building is also labelled "Poult House" on the 25 inch 1st Edition Ordnance Survey map. [8]