BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



imagination, who, though they worked to some 

 extent upon a pattern, loved to leave their in- 

 dividual mark upon the thing they fashioned 

 with their hands. 



Our British dovecotes, too, are growing 

 fewer every year. Many have vanished alto- 

 gether, some by wanton demolition, others by 

 neglect. The time has surely come at which 

 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; 

 on one hand to the reader of 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 

 and beautiful, I had often felt surprise and dis- 

 appointment at the lack of printed information 

 regarding these delightful buildings; and I 

 have at length ventured to attempt something, 



however little and however imperfectly, which 

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