Dovecote
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- This article is about aviaries. For the Dovecot IMAP and POP3 server, see Dovecot (software).
A dovecote or dovecot is a building intended to house pigeons or doves, which were an important food source in history. In Scotland the usual term is doocot, and the tradition is continued in modern urban areas.
In some cultures, particularly Medieval Europe, the possession of a dovecote was a symbol of status and power and was consequently regulated by law. Only nobles had this special privilege. The birds were kept both for their eggs and flesh.
Dovecotes may be square or circular, or even built into the end of a house or barn and generally contain pigeonholes where the birds nest.[1]
The French word for dovecote is pigeonnier or colombier. In some French provinces, especially Normandy, France, the dovecotes were built of wood in a very stylized way. Stone was the other popular building material for these old dovecotes. The Welsh name colomendy has itself become a place name.
In Brittany, France, the dovecote was sometimes built directly into the upper walls of the house or manor.
Many ancient manors in France and the United Kingdom have a dovecote (still standing or in ruins) in one section of the enclosure or in nearby fields. Examples include Bodysgallen Hall in Wales, Muchalls Castle, Roquetaillade Castle, in Bordeaux and Newark Castle in Scotland.
Early purpose build doocots in Scotland are of a "beehive" shape, circular in plan and tapering up to a domed roof with a circular opening at the top. In the late 16th century they were superseded by the "lectern" type, rectangular with a monopitch roof sloping fairly steeply in a suitable direction.[2] Phantassie Doocot is an unusual example of the beehive type topped with a monopitch roof, and Finavon Doocot of the lectern type is the largest doocot in Scotland, with 2,400 nesting boxes. Doocots were build well into the 18th century in increasingly decorative forms, then the need for them died out though some continued to be incorporated into farm buildings as ornamental features. However the 20th century saw a revival of doocot construction by pigeon fanciers, and dramatic towers clad in black or green painted corrugated iron can still be found on wasteland near housing estates in Glasgow and Edinburgh.[3][4]
The Romans may have introduced dovecotes columbaria to Britain -- pigeon holes have been found in Roman ruins at Caerwent. However it is believed that doves were not commonly kept there until after the Norman invasion.
[edit] See Also
- Cunninghamhead An example of a small doocot.
- Museum of Scottish Country Life An example of a doocot on a cart shed.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Doocot Interior 1 photo - Duncan Smith photos
- ^ Doocots in Scotland
- ^ Foo’s yer doos – aye pickin?
- ^ hiddenglasgow: doocots (dookits).
[edit] Further reading
- Gordon Emery, Curious Clwyd' (includes a list of dovecotes in Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham with many photo examples) ISBN 1872265995
- Gordon Emery, Curious Clwyd 2 (1996) ISBN 1872265979
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