BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



The walls, three feet six inches thick, form a 

 cube of twenty-one feet. That on the south side 

 has, besides a door placed several feet above 

 the ground, four external alighting-ledges, 

 each with four entrance-holes. Within are one 

 hundred and fifty oblong nest -holes, also pro- 

 vided with ledges. 



There are some remains of an old Norman 

 castle, to which the Court House was built as 

 successor. Over the door of the farmhouse is 

 the warm Welsh greeting freely translatable as 



Though narrow be the door, wide is the welcome, 



with the date 1653. 



Not muchisnowto be seen of thenext dove- 

 cote of the county, which lies in its extreme 

 north-west corner, in a narrow slip of country 

 that runs up between the mountainous borders 

 of Herefordshire and Brecon. Here, hidden 

 by hill ramparts upon either side, and lying on 

 the bank of the swift-flowing Honddu river, 

 is Llanthony Priory, where was unearthed by 

 chance in 1905 one of the most curiously con- 

 structed dovecotes known. 



It was discovered by some workmen who 



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