SHROPSHIRE 



rightly, among "garden ornaments"? 



The building is of brick, octagonal; inside are 

 some five hundred nests, with potence and its 

 ladder still in good repair. The tiled roof, also 

 octagonal, is crowned by a high cupola, and 

 small rectangular windows are set high in the 

 walls. Between these windows and the eaves 

 we find a feature which, while a welcome orna- 

 ment, forms subject of discussion and dispute; 

 a very beautiful arched corbel-table made in 

 moulded brick. 



The dovecote is generally referred to the 

 same period as the mansion, which was built by 

 the aforesaid Richard Prince, between the years 

 1578 and 1 5 8 2 , on the site of the grange belong- 

 ing to the Benedictine abbey, dissolvedin 1539. 

 The Abbey Church, as has been said, still 

 stands, and the refectory pulpit maybe seen in 

 an adjacent yard. It has been urged by archi- 

 tectural experts that a corbel-table such as this 

 was an unusual feature of Elizabethan times, 

 and one unlikely to have been produced byany 

 architect employed by Prince. 



A possible explanation of this feature, a great 

 addition to the beauty of the pigeon-house, is 



69 



