BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



here. The roof, which bore a cupola, has fallen 

 in. The walls still stand — four feet in thick- 

 ness, with a doorway which, though wide, is 

 little more than four feet high. 



Inside is a potence, and, still more inter- 

 esting, about four hundred nest-holes, thirteen 

 inches deep, and rounded at the back, a form 

 but seldom seen. Surely such shape, though 

 doubtless giving extra trouble to the builder, 

 meant additional comfort to the birds. These 

 rounded nests alone would be enough to date 

 this dovecote from a long-past day, when time 

 and trouble were nothing as compared with the 

 result desired. 



Also in this district, in the garden of the 

 rectory at Harley, is a square brick dovecote, 

 from the loft of which the nests have been re- 

 moved. A trap-door in the roof of the lower 

 story gives access to this loft, the ascent hav- 

 ing formerly been made by pegs driven into 

 the wall as a foothold. The little building is of 

 no great antiquity or importance, but a dove- 

 cote in a garden is not willingly passed by. 



At Bourton Hall, another house of interest 

 near Wenlock, is a solidly built square dove- 

 76 



