The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a £349,500 grant to secure the future of Poundstock Gildhouse, near Bude, North Cornwall. The lottery cash will enable essential repair work to be carried out and modern facilities installed so that the building can be used for a wide range of community events.

The Grade I listed, 15th century Gildhouse is the best preserved late medieval church house in Cornwall. As the name suggests, it served as a meeting place for the parish Guilds and a venue for church ales (feasts to raise money for the church building and poor residents) and Poundstock’s annual Revel. With the rise of Puritanism in the 17th century the building was subsequently put to use as a poorhouse and schoolroom, and it has been in continuous parish use ever since.

Thanks to this Heritage Lottery Fund grant, the historic building will be conserved inside and out, updated with new facilities, and made available for community events, art and craft exhibitions and private functions. There will be a range of interpretation materials to bring the Gildhouse’s past to life, explaining its historical context and many uses over the centuries.

Nerys Watts, Heritage Lottery Fund Manager in the South West comments; ‘Poundstock Gildhouse is a wonderful building that has remained largely intact over 500 years. This work will enable essential repair work to be carried out and modern facilities installed so that it can cater for a whole range of community events, exhibitions and functions.

‘We are thrilled to help secure the future of the Gildhouse and enable many more people to benefit from the restoration of Poundstock’s most important building.’

Ruth Fox, Treasurer of the Gildhouse committee adds; "This is wonderful news and makes all the hard work by everyone so worthwhile. We have had lots of support from the community and beyond, and it means so much to us to have the chance to put the Gildhouse back at its rightful place in the community."

Work will include repairing the roof, chimneys, floors and walls, creating a new car park to accommodate more visitors, ensuring wheelchair access throughout, and updating kitchen and toilet facilities, lighting and heating. In addition to interpretation boards at the site, there will be guided tours, a new website and teachers’ pack to get local schools to explore the Gildhouse’s rich history.

As the building was originally made using local materials and techniques, all repair work will be carried out in the same fashion to ensure that the Gildhouse remains as true to its original design as possible.