Pound succeeded Dickensian character, female, past prime (9)

I believe the answer is:

sheepfold

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'pound' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'succeeded dickensian character female past prime' is the wordplay.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'dickensian character' becomes 'heep' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'past prime' becomes 'old' (I've seen this in another clue).
's'+'heep'+'f'+'old'='SHEEPFOLD'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for sheepfold that I've seen before include "Farm pen" , "Pen for lambs, ewes, etc" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.

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