A B O O K O F D O V EC OT E S ’e BY A R THU R Oil éfOOKE A UTHOR OF “ THE FOREST OF D EAN ” T . N . FOUL IS PU BLISHE , R LOND ON E DI N BU GH 69' BO , R , ST ON Thi s wo rk i s publi she d by F O U L IS T . N . LONDON ! 1 Gre at R ussell St e e t W . C . 9 r , EDINBU R GH 1 5 Fre d e ri ck S tre e t BOSTON 1 5 A shburton Place ' L e R a P/i llz s A en t ( y r j , g ) A nd ma a so be o d e re d th ou h the o o wi n a enci e s y l r r g f ll g g , whe re the work m ay be exami ne d A U STR A LA S IA ! The O ord U ni ve si t re ss Cathe d a ui di n s xf r y P , r l B l g , 20 F i nd e s Lane M e bourne 5 l r , l A NA D A ! W . C . e 2 Ri ch m o nd Stre e t . We st To onto C B ll , 5 , r D NM A R K ! A aboule va rd 28 o e nh a e n E , C p g (N 'r r ebr os B oglza n d e l) Publis hed i n N ovem é e r N in e teen H un dr e d a n d Pr in ted i n S cotla nd by T D E d z n é u r /z . R . R . C L A R K , L . g ’ grey- wi ngd d ove s A r ound th e m v e fl ossy d o e cot s y. I L L I M R N E W A BA S . PREFAC E FOR one apology at least the author Of A B ook ‘ of D oz/ecoz es has no need ; he is not called upon to find excuses for producing “ yet another ” O volume on the subject chosen for his pen . N such work has yet been published , and , with the exception of one or two magazine articles , none of them of very recent date , the enquirer must turn to the Transactions or Proceedings of certain local antiquarian societies ; public ati o ns i n t e re s t i n and which , accurate , g, valuable as their contents may be , are not too readily accessible to the general reader . Moreover , suchsources ofinformation cover lessthanhalf a - dozen English counties . What is the special interest of the subject ? ” Are not all dovecotes pretty much ali ke ? i t may be asked . The answer to this question is “ ” t cal N e mpha i ly O . It would be difficultto find two dovecotes quite identical in every detail , architectural style , shape , size , design of door Of way , means entrance for the inmates , num ber and arrangement of the nests . For these Old - structures , built in field or fold yard , park or garden , date from long ago . They were designed and built by craftsmen gifted with v n BOOK O F DOVECOTES t ho u h t h e imagination , who , g y worked to some i n extent upon a pattern , loved to leave their dividual mark upon the thing they fashioned with their hands . O ur British dovecotes , too , are growing fewer every year . Many have vanished alto gether , some by wanton demolition , others by h neglect . The time has surely come at w ich to chronicle a few Of those that still remain ; to draw attention to their frequent beauty ; call to mind the interest which attaches to them ; plead for their more careful preservation , and — not altogether needlessly— make clear the reason why they came to occupy their places in our land . Something personal is due from the writer ; Of on one hand to the reader this volume , on the other to the many who have lent their aid in its production . Born in Herefordshire , a county in which dovecotes are both numerous I u and beautiful , had often felt s rprise and dis appointment at the lack ofprinted information regarding these delightful buildings ; and I have at length ventured to attempt something , however little and however imperfectly , which v m PREFACE may perhaps serve , in legal phrase , to open the case . The book is very far from being exhaustive ; many counties have perforce been left entirely f untouched , though an ef ort has been made to deal with most districts of England , and to some extent with Scotland and Wales . The ’ coln méa r znm Of story of the Roman , as the ' eo/omé ze r French , hasbeen lightly sketched ; so also with the laws concerning dovecotes , both f in Britain and in France . What is here of ered ’ nor s - d ce nz/r e a s e ri o u s is , in short , a rather than course , far less a solid meal . S O much as an apology for imperfections ; gratitude remains to be expressed . A certain number of the dovecotes marshalled for i n spe ct i o n in the following pages are well known Old to me , some being familiar friends . For a knowledge Of others I am largely indebted to the late Chancellor Ferguson ’ s “ Pigeon ” Houses in Cumberland , a paper published in the Tr a nsa ct i ons of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and A rc hae o log “ v o l 1 8 8 —8 8 ical Society , . ix . , 7 ; to The Dove ” s cotes of Worcestershire , an exhau tive , de ix BOOK OF DOVECOTES lightful , and well illustrated account by the R e Honourable Mrs . Berkeley , printed in the p or ts a nd Pap e r s of the Architectural Societ 1 0 —6 ies , vol . xxviii 9 5 ; to articles by Alfred Watkins , Esq . , who has dealt with Here f o rd shi re and other dovecotes in the Te a m ’ a cti ons of the Woolhope Naturalists Field 1 8 0 Club for 9 , and elsewhere ; and to the care ful and detailed accounts of N o rt ha mpto n shi re a examples by Major C . A . Markham , now p ‘ ‘ pearingfrom time to t i me i n N or zé a mp z ons/éi r e ’ N te a na u e r i es TO - o s Q . the two last named Of gentlemen , as also to Mr . H . E . Forrest I Shrewsbury , owe much for kindly help in other ways . But personal knowledge , even with this aid , would have gone but a short way to fill the present volume . Doubtless the ideal method for the dovecote - hunter is to sling a rucksack - on his shoulder , take a walking stick , a camera , - a - and thick soled boots , and go foot through all the by- ways of the land in quest of his peculiar prey . Failing the possibility of such I a tempting course , am indebted to all those who , upon receipt of a portentous list of ques x PREFAC E tions , spared no pains to give the details of some dovecote which they either owned or knew . In a few cases only was the inform ation asked for tacitly refused . All over Britain , from Caithness to Corn wall , there have risen up to help me those who , total strangers when the post presented at Of their heads a blunderbuss questions , now , in many cases , seem to occupy the place of kindly friends , so heartily have they assisted , and so generous the encouragement and inter est which they offered to the work . Clergy m have left their studies , far ers snatched an Of hour fromthe busyfields spring ; landowners , — ladies terms no doubt at times synonymous , — f m e n h av e with army o ficers and naval , gone a rd e n t h e re out into yard or field or g , to photo o r graph sketch , to measurewalls andwindows , - note the number and the shape of nest holes , so that they might send so clear and full a verbal picture of their dovecote that it seem ed to stand before my eyes . To name a few u i m wo ld be invidious , and to speak of all Of possible . They must be fully conscious the Of n lavish measure their kindness to a stra ger , xi BOOK OF DOVECOTES I u nr e and , hope , will not feel altogether warded by the very grateful thanks he Offers to them here . A R THUR O C K E . OO . D U BL IN ST R E E T 38 , IN H M a 2 D B U R G 1 0 . E , y 9 TA BLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE p age v i i L M B R M I . TH E ROMAN CO U A I U F C COL OM B I E R I I . TH E REN H I I I TH N G L I S H D O C OT . E E VE E FO S IV . H ERE RD H I RE OPS V . S H R H I RE WO C S W W C K VI . R E TER AN D AR I P O B U C K I I .