BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



into disuse, and it was desired to employ it as a 

 stable, cart-shed, or the like; so that a low and 

 narrowdoorwayhas now often disappeared, be- 

 ing swallowed up in one of modern size. In the 

 same way the potence, useful when employed 

 for its due purpose, was found later to be in the 

 way ofcarts or cattle, and has consequently often 

 been cast out. 



Still occupied by pigeons is the dovecote at 

 Denton, a village six miles from Northampton, 

 on the Bedford road. It is of limestone and cir- 

 cular; there are three "set-backs" to the walls, 

 the uppermost alone being provided with a 

 string-course. Theroof and itscupoladatefrom 

 the middle of the last century, but the building 

 is much older. The doorway on the south is al- 

 most square, three feet six inches high, three 

 inches less in breadth. 



I sham, a village lying between Welling- 

 borough and Kettering, possesses an interest- 

 ing seventeenth-century dovecote, rectangu- 

 lar in shape, and having its massive walls built 

 with a slight ''batter." The heavy door, thickly 

 studded with nails, is worth noting, and the 

 whole building is maintained in good repair. 

 104 



