Monument record MDO19929 - The Pound, South Street, Bridport

The site of the pound was on a plot on the corner of South Street and Folly Mill Lane. The first documentary reference occurs in a late 18th century deed. It went out of use in the mid 19th century.

The site of the town pound was on a plot at the corner of South Street and Folly Mill Lane. Most of the information below is taken from documentary work done by Christopher Currie (1). A square plot marked ‘Pound’ is shown on an undated 18th century map of Bridport. This plot is also shown on the 1773 map in Hutchins, but is not annotated. Documentary sources indicate that the pound was here from at least the late 16th century as a deed of 1577 refers to a barn “on the north side of Mill Lane and east of the Pound” (1). This barn is probably the building shown on the 18th century maps on Folly Mill Lane to the east of the pound. Another deed of 1667 states that there is ‘a Plot of land lying in Pound Lane late in the possession of William Bull with the Pound on the West and land of Mr Warde (?) on the East’ (1). Pound Lane may be an alternative name for Folly Mill Lane. This plot of land was No. 23 in the surveys of the Corporation property in Bridport, referred to as the ‘Plot of Ground being in Pound Lane bounded with the Pound on the West Side and lands of Mr Ward on the East Side’ (1). It was sold in July 1800 to pay for the Land Tax owed that year by the Corporation (1). An 1833 map of Bridport (1) illustrates the same situation as on the 18th century maps. The date of the abandonment of the Pound is not known, but occurred some time after 1833 and the surveying of the Ordnance Survey 1:500 maps which show buildings and gardens on the site.

A stone-lined well was found on the corner of South Street and Folly Mill Lane during the redevelopment of the site of the pound in 2001 and may have been used to supply water to the animals (1).

<1> Currie, C K, 2001, An Archaeological Evaluation at 29 South Street, Bridport, Dorset (Unpublished document). SWX8618.

Record last edited

Aug 30 2024 11:17AM