ESSEX AND SUFFOLK 



pegs were doubtless perching-places, though 

 the arrangement is unusual; and it is possible 

 that the table was formerly the scene of such 

 operations as killing.plucking, andgeneral pre- 

 paration of birds for the table — or perhaps more 

 probably of packing them for market. 



A somewhat similar platform, which the 

 owner of the dovecote thinks was perhaps in- 

 tended as a means by which to reach the upper 

 nests, occurs at Chelmshoe House, Castle H ed- 

 ingham. The dovecote is a square brick build- 

 ing standing in an orchard. It is no longer oc- 

 cupied, and nests, to the number of two hundred 

 and fifty, remain on one wall only. 



Another example is to be seen in the yard 

 of a house in the main street of Newport. This 

 is a square brick structure, with tiled roof. The 

 L-shaped nest-holes still remain, but other- 

 wise there is no very striking point of interest 

 save that which makes it worthy of brief men- 

 tion here — the occurrence of a dovecote of con- 

 siderable size in the centre of a town. 



At Great Bardfield, near Braintree, in a field 

 called Dovecote Meadow, is another dovecote 

 of that timber framing and lath and plaster 



159 



