The Gildhouse is Grade I listed and one of the oldest surviving buildings in England remaining in continual use for over 500 years by the church and community. It had outlived its original church house function within a century, maybe 150 years, of its construction. It was then converted to a Poor House and schoolroom, which lasted up until the end of the 19th century. Since the 1908 restoration it has served as a parish meeting house The building is a typical, early north Cornish construction with cob upper walls, stone ground floor and timber framed cruck roof. A Gildhouse was used by the Church for the brewing and consumption of ale. Our practice was commissioned by the Poundstock Parish Council to oversee a significant repair and improvement programme which improved access and practical use as well as securing the sustainable use of the building in the long term. The aim was to encourage regular and frequent use or the building by local people and groups; from parish meetings, harvest suppers to school visits – many history days with dressing up, craft making and cooking to deliver part of the National Curriculum. The project involved very considerable consultation with the community, Local Authority, English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund in order to secure its long term use by a broad section of the community and in this it has been resoundingly successful.