YORKSHIRE 



sent, a portion of the upright beam stillremain- 

 ing. In the centre is a small stone slab or table, 

 raised two feet above the ground. This may- 

 have been provided as a place on which to de- 

 posit a basket of young birds, although it 

 seems rather in the nature of a needlessluxury. 



Another dovecote in a Yorkshire garden 

 will be found at Rogerthorpe Manor, near 

 Pontefract, It has been modernised to some 

 extent, the nest-holes having been removed, 

 and a floor inserted, dividing the building into 

 an upper fruit-store and a potting-shed. But 

 happily the roof of old stone slabs remains in 

 place, its beauty little lessened by the changes 

 carried out below. The dovecote is an oblong 

 one, some twenty feet in height, and twenty- 

 three feet long by thirteen feet six inches broad. 



Few Yorkshire dovecotes enjoyafiner situa- 

 tion than the one we shall find at Barforth Old 

 Hall, close to the Durham border of the county. 

 It stands on the hill-slope, looks down on Bar- 

 forth Hall, the park, the rippling Tees, and the 

 picturesque village of Gainford in the back- 

 ground; a worthy picture set in an ideal frame. 

 It isia circular building of stone, thirty feet 



149 



