BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



atry";the New House was furnished "fittomake. 

 an emperor's court." One bedroom alone con- 

 tained furniture to the estimated value of some 

 thirteen hundred pounds. The place was provi- 

 sioned for years; four hundred quarters of wheat, 

 hundreds of flitches of bacon, beer, "divers 

 cellars-full, and very good" — a point on which 

 M r. Peters was qualified to j udge, having tasted 

 the same. 



No less than seventy-four defenders of the 

 stately house were slain, including one woman 

 whohad provoked the soldiers by her "railing," 

 andan officerwhose heightis given as ninefeet! 

 The place was plundered, fired, laid in total ruin. 



Mr. Peters further speaks of the-beef, pork, 

 and oatmeal laid in store; but there was another 

 source of food-supply, of which the gallant gar- 

 rison no doubt made use — the dovecotes, stand- 

 ing one at either end of along garden wall. One 

 of the two at least was almost certainly in place 

 when Basing House was stormed three cent- 

 uries ago, although it hardly dates, as reported 

 locally, from the eleventh century. The second 

 dovecote, a thatched building, is of doubtful age. 



The one which doubtless furnished to the 

 ^78 ' 



