BOOK OF DOVECOTES 



the chalder being equivalent to sixteen "bolls" 

 of one and a quarter hundredweight each. The 

 dovecote was to bebuilt within two miles of the 

 owner's land — a provision which seems more 

 liberal to him than to the holders of the inter- 

 vening fields; and only one might be so built 

 for the amount of land named. No limit was 

 placed upon the size of thebuildingor upon the 

 number ofits occupants, though on these points 

 a court would perhaps be open to reasonable 

 argument. A dovecote, once built, was not 

 liable to demolition merely because, in chang- 

 ing hands, it had passed into the possession of 

 an owner who had not the stipulated acreage 

 of land; nor, even if condemned by law as hav- 

 ing been illegally erected, need it be destroyed 

 entirely, the simple blocking of the entrance^ 

 holes being deemed sufficient satisfaction. 



It is probable that the statute named was 

 rendered necessary by recent increase in the 

 number of existing dovecotes. More than one 

 example shortly to be seen dates from the clos- 

 ing years of the sixteenth century, and many 

 others are certainly of the same period. Some 

 of those so dated are circular, others oblong; 

 238 



