Pounds or enclosures were built for impounding stray livestock. But on Dartmoor they can also be built to enclose a settlement or house as well as livestock. They could be a small walled enclosure built to act as a wind-break for cultivated crops or as a drift pound used to impound straying or illegally pastured animals on the Dartmoor forest as in the case of Erme pound. Erme Pound was originally a Bronze Age enclosure that was later used to collect strays from the southern quarter and also as a foldage pound. This was when commoners would drive their animals out of the limits of the Forest each evening thus avoiding any fines for having animals illegally pastured during the night. The stock would then be enclosed at sunset and released the following day. By very nature of it remoteness Erme Pound was never one of the main drift pounds as it meant that manning the pound, providing accommodation, and supplying the keepers with food was too much of a logistical problem. This image shows what appers to be small building which would have had a roof and was probably used as a resting room.

Boddy Collection