BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



was converted to the purpose of a coach-house 

 several years ago, and a large modern doorway 

 has been made in the north wall. The original 

 entrance, now built up, is on the south, and 

 very small — four feet three inches high, and 

 less than two feet wide. A single stone forms 

 the sill, another the lintel, and both these and 

 the jambs are broadly chamfered. The roof has 

 been renewed. 



Apart fromtheold doorwaythechief interest 

 lies within. The nests, once numbering about 

 six hundred, are plain oblong recesses, but of 

 unusually massive construction. They are built 

 of stones six inches thick by fourteen inches 

 square. A tier of these was laid with intervals 

 of sixinches between them, andthe rows above 

 added in the same way, the stones of one tier 

 covering the intervals in that below. Each 

 nest was thus six inches broad, six inches high, 

 and fourteen inches deep. Nearly eight hun- 

 dred of these massive slabs of stone, all cut to 

 the same size, were used; and the labour and 

 cost involved, even in times when the hand of 

 toil might be secured for a few daily pence, 

 must have been very considerable. The nests 

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