BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



is a dovecote close at hand that should not be 

 passed by. Leaving the H igh Street, let us take 

 the turning marked as Edinburgh Road; keep 

 a look-out upon the left, or ask to be directed 

 to the Friar's Croft, a piece of land which once 

 belonged to the old abbey of the place. Here, 

 rudelyshoulderedbya telegraph post, isa large 

 dovecote which is surely the ugliest in Scot- 

 land! 



Ugly indeed, but curious; for it is an oblong 

 building, not, as usual, with a lean-to roof, but 

 one which slopes both north and south. More- 

 over, the ridge runs across, and not in thedirec- 

 tion of, the length. The slopes originally met 

 at a gable-ridge, still clearly to be seen. But at 

 some unknown period an extraordinary addi- 

 tion has been made. The ridge was ''capped" 

 by an immense square-topped inverted wedge 

 of masonry. It was doubtless to support this 

 formidable addition of weight that there were 

 introduced within two massive arches, crossing 

 from side to side, and built of a greyer stone 

 than that of the main body of the house. The 

 lower ends of each arch take the form of a well- 

 finished roll. 

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