CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 



SOMERSET AND 



DORSET 



Recrossing Devon into Somerset we find our- 

 selves on fruitful ground. Let us turn first to 

 so well known and popular a place as Dunster, 

 where is a dovecote which, besides being of 

 considerable antiquity, is "beautiful for situ- 

 ation," while a tragic story clings to its old 

 walls. 



It stands in the garden of the ancient priory; 

 a massive building, circular, and dating from 

 the thirteenth century. The doorway is par- 

 ticularly worthy of notice. The building's height 

 is about nineteen feet, and the diameter the 

 same; the roof is covered with small slates. 

 There are five hundred and forty nest-holes of 

 varying and rather irregular shape. The pot- 

 ence also is in place. 



The story above alluded to may best be 

 quoted from the late Prebendary Hancock's 

 Dunster Church and Priory. After describing 

 the dovecote he goes on to say: 



*'A terrible tragedy is on record with regard 

 to this dovecote. It is related that, when, one 



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