BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



built of local sandstone, roofed with thatch or 

 tiles; the dovecote, far from standing lonely 

 and deserted in a meadow, peeps upon us from 

 behind a garden wall. 



It is around building of local sand- and iron- 

 stone, in some measure ivy-grown. The roof, 

 renewed three-quarters of a century ago, is of 

 the well-known local Colly Weston slates, and is 

 topped by an octagonal lantern and a weather- 

 vane. The wall is "set back" half-way up, with 

 a good string-course; while a broad table-course 

 appears immediately below the eaves. The 

 walls, fifteen feet high, are three feet thick. 

 Entrance is by a doorway four feet high, two 

 feet one inch in breadth. Internally the build- 

 ing is divided into two stories by a modern 

 floor, and holds about four hundred nests, now 

 long disused. 



The thickness of the walls, the small size of 

 the doorway, are good signs of age; but it is a 

 somewhat doubtful tradition which dates this 

 interesting structure to 1 3 20, the year in which 

 the parish church was rebuilt. More probably 

 it has existed since the first quarter of the fif- 

 teenth century. 

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