Building record MDO28353 - 1 Sarum Street, Poole

An important late medieval timber framed building of two storeys. The upper floor was a single very large room suggesting a public or guild function. It was much altered and rebuilt in the early 19th century. Demolished in 1971.

A house described by the RCHME as formerly a public house, of two storeys, built in the early 19th century, with a much altered front. (1)

During demolition in 1971, the remains of a much older timber framed structure, of two storeys, was found within this building, much altered. The ground floor appeared to have been divided by a screens passage and the original door and two windows survived in the stone east wall. The west wall was much altered and rebuilt. The north wall was of rubble stone and incorporated two fireplaces at ground and first floor level. The ground floor fireplace was the full width of the building. The upper fireplace had a lintel covered in mason's marks and graffiti with two carved dates of 1644(?) and 1646. The first floor comprised a single very large room of five bays. The walls were of timber framing and the jowled principal posts supported the collar and tie beam roof trusses with arched braces between the posts and the tie beam. It had a single trenched purlin and arched windbraces. The date of construction of this building is not known, but is likely to be late medieval. The very large first floor room suggests the building may have had a public or guild function, rather than a purely domestic one. It would have been an important late medieval harbourside building. (2)

This building has now been demolished.

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 2, 233 (Monograph). SDO149.

Sarum Street
(251) House, No. 1, former a p. h., of two storeys, was built in the early 19th century; the front has been much altered.

<2> Horsey, I P, ed K Jarvis, 1992, Excavations in Poole 1973-1983, 56-58 (Monograph). SWX3766.

Record last edited

Aug 29 2024 3:37PM