BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



atry";the New House was rurnished*'fittomake 

 an emperor's court." One bedroom alone con- 

 tained furniture to the estimated value of some 

 thirteen hundred pounds. The place was provi- 

 sioned for years; four hundred quartersof wheat, 

 hundreds of flitches of bacon, beer, ''divers 

 cellars-full, and very good" — a point on which 

 Mr. Peters wasqualifiedto judge, having tasted 

 the same. 



No less than seventy-four defenders of the 

 stately house were slain, including one woman 

 whohad provoked the soldiers by her "railing," 

 andan officerwhose heightis givenas ninefeet! 

 The place was plundered, fired, laid in total ruin. 



Mr. Peters further speaks of the beef, pork, 

 and oatmeal laid in store; but there was another 

 source of food-supply, of which the gallant gar- 

 rison nodoubt madeuse — the dovecotes, stand- 

 ing one at either endof along garden wall. One 

 of the two at least was almost certainly in place 

 when Basing House was stormed three cent- 

 uries ago, although it hardly dates, as reported 

 locally, from the eleventh century. The second 

 dovecote, athatched building, is of doubtful age. 



The one which doubtless furnished to the 



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