CHAPTER NINE 



LANCASHIRE, 



WESTMORLAND, 



AND CUMBERLAND 



Resuming our pilgrimage and turning to the 

 north, a pause must be made in Lancashire to 

 notice a dovecote at Meols Hall, Churchtown, 

 near Southport. It is of interest as being one 

 of those oblong buildings containing two com- 

 partments, aspecimenofwhich we have already- 

 noticed in Northamptonshire, and which we 

 shall find common in Scotland. 



Of the Meols dovecote one compartment is 

 in ruins, and the roof of the whole building has 

 fallen. The compartment still standing has 

 an internal measurement of fourteen feet by- 

 twelve, and contains nearly four hundred L- 

 shaped nest-holes. Its age is not definitely- 

 known; butthe present mansion of Meols Hall 

 stands on the site of a much older house; and 

 the owner, whose family has been settled on 

 the spot since 1 1 80, tells us that a seconddove- 

 cote formerly existed on a farm of the estate, 

 but was demolished towards the end of the last 



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