LE COLOMBIER, TOKTEVAL. 



BY LIEUT.-COLOXEL T. W. M. DE GUERIX. 



Ix a field, at the rear of an old house called " Le Colombier," 

 at Torteval, may be noticed the ruins of an old circular 

 tower covered with ivy, and fast falling to decay. This is the 

 remains of the only manorial dove-cote or " cvlomhier )ioble " 

 now existing in the island. In feudal days "le droit de 

 colombier'' was one of the privileges of the nobles, none 

 but the owner of a military fief haAang the right of erecting a 

 dove-cote of the above description, a tower standing alone ; 

 the lesser seigneurs having to content themselves with a 

 small one attache! to their farm buildings, while the free 

 tenants could only place a few pigeon holes at the gables 

 or eaves of their barns. A rather good example of the latter 

 is still to be seen on an old barn opposite Orange Lodge, at 

 the King's Mills. 



The early Norman dove-cotes were great circular towers, 

 covered Avith high pitched roofs, in Avhich were openings, 

 under the eaves, for the pigeons to go in and out, the 

 inner side of the Avail being honeycombed Avith holes for their 

 nests. In the centre of the building a revolving ladder called 

 a " potence " was fixed on piv ots, up which a man could climb 

 and swing himself round to any portion of the building. 

 Numerous examples of these circular towers are still to be seen 

 in Normandy, Brittany, and some parts of England. At 

 a later period these dove-cotes were usually built square, 

 and in Southern France, Avhere building stone is scarce, 

 they Avere even raised on pillars with projecting stone caps to 

 prcA'cnt the entrance of a ermin. 



Our colombier belonged to the earlier circular forn). 

 According to Mr. J. J. Carey's measurement (see Report 

 Archaeo. Sec. : Proceedings Guernsey Natural Science Soc. 

 1895) ; it is 58ft. in circumference, with Avails 2ft. lOin. 

 thick and a doorway 3ft. Sin. wide. At present the ruins are 

 from 12 to 14 feet in height. Its history can be traced for 



