BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



"Round House." It is a circular brick build- 

 ing of considerable size, and is now converted 

 into a cottage. Needless to say the nests have 

 disappeared, and the structure cannot be re- 

 garded as any very great "find" by the dove- 

 cote enthusiast. 



Away in the north of the county, at Stoke 

 Rivers, near Barnstaple, the rectory garden 

 has a dovecote which, like the hero's helmet, 

 has been converted to "a hive for bees"; the 

 late incumbent, a whole-hearted apiculturist, 

 having made it the headquarters of his hives. 

 It is a small octagonal building of stone, with a 

 thatched roof. 



We are better rewarded at Buckland-tout- 

 Saints, a village near Kingsbridge, where, in 

 the garden of the mansion-house, there is a 

 good example of a Devon dovecote, built of 

 stone and "cob." It is circular, with an inside 

 diameter of fifteen feet, a thatched roof and 

 dormer windows. The outer surface of the walls 

 is ivy-covered, and the inside boarded over. 

 The walls are very thick, the doorway notice- 

 ably small and low. 



The owner has adapted it as a game larder, 



2IO 



