BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



only pigeon-house in the parish seems suggest- 

 ed by the name Pigeon-house Meadow in an 

 ancient document; but any traces of the dove- 

 cote there alluded to will nowbe sought in vain. 



Very similar accommodation for pigeons 

 occurs in the church tower at Collingbourne 

 Ducis, Wiltshire, and it is probable that many 

 other instances exist to which attention has 

 not yet been drawn. The real purpose of such 

 holes as those at Sarnesfield might quite easily 

 elude the observer, who would regard them as 

 "putlock-holes," made to receive the ends of 

 horizontal timbers used in scaffolding, tempor- 

 ary or otherwise. 



In several cases a pigeon-house existed, 

 sometimes still exists, in parts of a church other 

 than the tower. At Hellesdon, near Norwich, 

 there was a wooden pigeon-cote placed on the 

 west gable of the church. Pigeons formerly oc- 

 cupied the tower at Monk's Bretton, Yorkshire; 

 Birlingham, Worcestershire; and Gumfreston 

 in Pembrokeshire; nor do these instances en- 

 tirely exhaust the list. We know that pigeons 

 nested in the bell-tower at Ensham, Oxford- 

 shire, in former days; for in 1388 a man en- 

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