SOMERSET 



it is difificult to account with any hope of cer- 

 tainty. This is a ledge or "drip" which runs all 

 round the inside surface of the walls, four feet 

 six inches from the floor. The suggestion has 

 been made that it was meant to carry a wheel- 

 ed staging to and fro across thehouse — a means 

 of access to the upper nests. This seems hard- 

 ly likely, such arrangement being unknown 

 elsewhere. 



A certain mystery attaches to the next dove- 

 cote on our list. This will be found at Stoke 

 Courcy — commonly called Stogursey — near 

 Bridgwater. It stands on sloping ground east 

 of the church, in the yard of Priory Farm. It is 

 of stone and circular, the walls being three feet 

 thick, the internal diameter about fifteen feet, 

 and the height to the eaves eighteen. The 

 cone-shaped roof is thatched. 



A modern floordivides the buildinginto two 

 stories, the upper one being reached by out- 

 side stone steps. A window in this upper story 

 faces east, that in the lowerlookingtowardsthe 

 church. 



The accounts received of it are somewhat 

 discrepant. First comes a clear little woodcut, 



223 



