HEREFORDSHIRE 



would-be despoilers — "squatters" eager for 

 good building-stone, and others of like kind — 

 would find in the selection of a fitting point on 

 which to maketheir firstattack. Ina neglected 

 building of rectangular form decay would not 

 be long in setting in at the junction of walls, 

 at doorways and around windows ; and what 

 the elements and time began, man could com- 

 plete. But where will you strike first at a round, 

 windowless building, with but one strong and 

 narrow doorway in a wall three feet ten inches 

 thick? The additional fact that a dovecote 

 would yield but a small store of stone as com- 

 pared with the long lofty walls of cloister or 

 refectory, is also to be borne in mind; but it 

 seems probable that the great Garway dove- 

 cote, like some others of its class, owes its 

 immunity from spoliation to its shape and 

 massive build. And we are duly thankful such 

 should be the case. 



Shortly before the clergyman already men- 

 tioned published his account, the building 

 had advanced some distance down the easy 

 road to ruin, imperilled by a more insidious 

 and slow-moving foe than any stone-stealer. 



47 



