Monument record MDO8238 - Mount Poynings, West Lulworth

Several terraces and other earthworks in this field may indicate the site of a country house built by Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings, who died in 1545. The house is said to have been demolished in 1588 when Lulworth Castle was built. The earthworks are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946 although they have since been plough-levelled.

Thos. Lord Poynings built a house, calling it after his own name, (he seems to have died in 1546) according to a Mr Coker. Thos. Viscount Bindon pulled it down when he built Lulworth Castle in 1588. <1> The area within which Mount Poynings stood is now a grass field. Evidence of the existence of the house is still visible by way of five terraces lettered A,B,C,D and E. Each of these is approximately 1.3 metres wide, and while A,B & C average 0.6 metres in height, C and D average 1.2 metres in height. F is a shallow ditch with a low bank on the west side. It averages 2.0 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep, and may once have been a carriage drive to the house, though it is not traceable for more than 120 metres. For a radius of 25 metres about the siting symbol of the house, there are a number of pits about 5.0 metres across and 1.0 metres deep. No surface finds were made during field perambulation, of objects identifiable with the house. <3> Patches of nettles on this site indicate possible refuse 'Pits' mentioned in authy. 3 are actually wall foundations. Surface finds nil. <4> Several terraces and other earthworks in this field may indicate the site of a country house built by Thomas Poynings, 1st Baron Poynings, who died in 1545. The house is said to have been demolished in 1588 when Lulworth Castle was built. The earthworks include possible field boundaries that may be of earlier medieval origin. They are visible on aerial photographs taken in 1946 <6> although they have since been plough-levelled. The features were digitally plotted during the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Record last edited

Jul 7 2023 5:07PM