Sporting lodge

Inchnabobart, Glen Muick - The sporting lodge of King Charles III in Scotland

In Great Britain and Ireland a sporting lodge – also known as a hunting box, fishing hut, shooting box or shooting lodge – is a building designed to provide lodging for those practicing the sports of hunting, shooting, fishing, stalking, falconry, coursing and other similar rural sporting pursuits.

History

Sporting lodges date back to the Norman era of British history where after the Norman Conquest the King divided up land for himself and favoured nobles on which to hunt. This could be a Royal Forest or a Chase. The word Lodge is derived from a Frankish or Norman word for 'shelter', and the earliest examples would have been built in these lands to serve as accommodation for the King and his guests. The lodges would also often serve as accommodation for the King's staff whose job was to protect the land and game or quarry from poachers, and later to enforce law and order within the forest (such as Verderer's).

A ruined Warren Lodge at Thetford

The earliest examples of these lodges are often 'Warreners Lodge's'. The Normans were fond of hunting rabbits, which were not native to the British isles, and so they introduced them. However the rabbits were ill-adapted to the English climate and easy prey for native predators, so purpose built artificial 'warrens' were established and fenced in, usually on poor, sandy or heath land. As the rabbits commanded a high value, lodges were built for 'warreners' - people employed to guard and care for the rabbits.