BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



so carefully chronicled, should now risk losing 

 such a good example. 



Yet another fine stone dovecote stands at 

 Great Blencowe Farm, near Penrith. Internally 

 it measures about ten feet square. The height 

 to the eaves is eighteen feet, and the roof, form- 

 ing a four-sided prism, is topped by a stone 

 ball, from which projects an iron spike. The 

 building is two-storied, the upper chamber hav- 

 ing a semicircular entrance for the birds. In 

 the room below an ovoid aperture is placed on 

 either side of the doorway. Above the door the 

 initials W. T., with the date 1789, are sunk in 

 the stone, the lettersevidentlystandingforone 

 William Troutbeck, formerly a dweller at the 

 farm. 



The wooden floor of the upper chamber is 

 comparatively modern , but replaces one of older 

 date. The nest-holes are built of perpendicular 

 tiers of bricks, their floors being sandstone slabs. 

 In the lower room recesses of a different shape 

 were clearly designed to meet the needs of 

 poultry of various sizes; an upper tier being 

 about three feet from the ground, while that 

 below has nests large enough for geese and 

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