CHAPTER FOUR 

 HEREFORDSHIRE 



The reader may quite possibly feel some 

 surprise at finding himself called on to com- 

 mence a "survey" of our English dovecotes 

 in a county which is both remote and little 

 known. For this the author would perhaps 

 venture to put forward grounds of personal 

 predilection were he not provided with more 

 satisfactory excuse. Herefordshire is not only 

 rich in dovecotes of a great variety of age and 

 form, but claims a further pre-eminence by 

 possessing an example which is one of the 

 oldest and finest in England, and which can 

 point, in proof of its antiquity, not only to its 

 architectural style, but to the quite indisput- 

 able date the builder graved upon its stone. 

 It is to this most interesting of Herefordshire 

 dovecotes that we will first turn. 



More than one route offers by which to 

 reach the secluded and extensive parish of 

 Garway, lying on the south-west border of 

 the county; but most to be recommended to 

 the pedestrian, both for beauty of scenery 

 and interest of association, is that which leads 



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