HADDINGTONSHIRE 



courses. Its material is rubble stone of all shapes 

 and sizes, an opportunity for examination being 

 only too well afforded by the fact that the north 

 wall now lies in ruin upon the ground, leaving 

 the nests inside intact. This disaster occurred 

 during the winter of 1919-1920, and it is to be 

 feared that unless steps are promptly taken to 

 repair the damage, the whole house will pres- 

 ently be down. A villager bemoans the coming 

 loss, but adds that "with so many war memorials 

 folk hae little coin to spare." 



The walls are over three feet thick, the door 

 no more than two feet six in breadth. Over the 

 latter is a stone which carries the date 1583, 

 enclosed in an oblong knotted design. Here, 

 then, we have another dovecote of well-proved 

 and definite antiquity. The gable-walls are 

 corbie-stepped, and the roof is in two planes, 

 with entrance-holes below the eaves. 



Inside there are about a thousand nests. As 

 in some other square Scottish dovecotes there 

 is a potence — or a rather poor attempt at one. 

 The central post revolves, but carries a rough 

 framing, with no sign of a true ladder. 



Descending the hill at right angles to our line 



261 



