does not seem to have occurred to a writer in the Archæologia, vol. 29, who describes and sketches it, or to any other writer on the district. A rather difficult climb showed me that the holes-some hundreds in number-were nest holes of the true L shape, and by no possibility could they have been intended for any other purpose. The name too-Culver is an old English word for a dove-proves the matter. Local tradition says the place was built by a Mansel of Hen-y-llys, the same family as the builders of Oxwich Castle, which possesses a dovecot. But why should a dovecot be constructed in this lonely and unusual situation? (High tides wash the floor of the cave). This was a puzzle until I remembered that the Wild Rock Dove still inhabits this coast line, that in former times they were far more plentiful, that they nest in the numerous caves and clefts, and that all our domestic pigeons are direct descendants of, and will inter-breed with, these wild doves (Columba livia). Here, then, is the inevitable conclusion I arrived at; that in castle-building times, a dovecot was built in the cliff with the evident intention of enticing and perhaps partly domesticating the wild pigeons. With what success will probably be never known. A farm-house pigeon which I purchased in Hereford Market is absolutely identical in colour and markings with the true Wild Rock Dove. They may be seen and compared in our local Museum. But to return to Herefordshire. This county possesses no examples or records of castle dovecots; some of the circular stone ones, however-direct descendants of the Norman patterns-are interesting. At Court House, Richard's Castle, is one with three dormer windows in the roof; the walls are three feet eleven inches thick, and it contains 630 nest holes (one of similar design occurs at Kyre Park, Worcestershire). This example, and in fact most of the circular ones, is fitted with a revolving ladder, a contrivance to enable the owner to reach all the nest holes. In the centre of the building an upright beam is fixed on pivots free to revolve; it carries two horizontal arms which in their turn carry an upright or sloping ladder, free to sweep round the inner circumference of the building. The revolving ladder was evidently not fitted to the earlier Norman buildings, and was only adopted when timber framed roofs took the place of stone domes for dovecots. I see no reason, therefore, to suppose that the idea came from the French. At Wigmore Grange-the Abbey was founded by Hugh de Mortimer in Stephen's reign-the round stone pigeon house was needlessly destroyed in 1888; it was built of dressed stones of uneven size, and among the stones when pulled down were some carved corbels; it was, therefore, probably built when the abbey was demolished at the Reformation. The vane was dated 172, but this was probably not the date of the building. The dovecot which stood on the site of the ancient palace of the Bishops of Hereford, at Bosbury, was only pulled down in 1884, but I can hear of no description or drawing of it. It seems probable that it existed when Bishop Swinfield's Roll of Household Expenses was written in 1289, for this mentions "pigeons from the columbarium of the manor of Bosbury," and the Rev. John Webb describes it as like the one at Garway (1326). The wall thickness of a pigeon house gives some rough information regarding its age, as the earliest examples had the greatest substance of walls, and the most recent ones are seldom more than 2 feet 6 inches thick. The circular pigeon house at Holme Lacy is entirely distinct in style from local examples, and was probably designed by an architect from later French examples. No pigeon holes are formed in the substance of the wall in this case, and wooden boxes had therefore to be added. stone. All but one of the eleven Herefordshire circular pigeon houses are built of When an alteration took place in the structure of domestic buildings in the direction of timber framing instead of massive stone walls, the change spread to pigeon houses, and square buildings became the rule; for timber work does not lend itself to circular forms. The square shape is in the majority in Herefordshire, and forty-one still exist. Very picturesque some of them are, especially when the roof is four gabled, and the surmounting wooden lantern through which the pigeons enter reproduces the same form, as at the Moor Farm, Hereford. The date of this particular style is given at Luntley, 1675; curiously enough the house is dated one year later, and an outbarn, 1672. This is the second instance I have found in which a dovecot was built before the house; for at Bromtrees Hall the octagonal pigeon house is dated 1721, and on the leaden water pipe heads against the house 1723 is cast. The smallest pigeon house I have seen is in a garden at Mansel Lacy, and the stone front of the adjacent house is fitted up with a number of nesting holes. I have met with no other instance of true pigeon holes in the walls of a dwelling house. Most curious of all is the richly carved and ornamented square timber built example at Buttas, or Butt House, King's Pyon, built by George and Elizabeth Karver, in 1632. Local tradition says that the middle chamber (there are three stories) was a falconry, and the structure of the building seems to bear this out. The date and initials are carved in raised letters in panels on the N. side. In many of the square pigeon houses the structure is of timber (oak framing), and the walls are filled in with "wattle and daub," brick being often substituted at a later date. The nest holes are continuous tiers of boxes formed of oak strips and boards, the perpendicular divisions between the boxes are not at right angles to the wall, but set at a considerable angle, in order to give the same accommodation for the length of the sitting bird that the L shape of the nest holes in brick or stone affords. A pigeon house of this type was pulled down in 1889 at Putson-a suburb of Hereford; the roof was single span. Pigeon houses were usually close to the house, and sometimes in the court yard "because the master of the family may keep in awe those who go in or come outt" as the Sportsman's Dictionary (1725) remarks. This delightful old book has a good deal to say on the matter, and as a precaution against the encroachments of rats, describes how tin plates should be fastened at a certain height at the outward angles of a square pigeon house, 66 SO they may fall." At the square stone these plates are fixed fifteen feet up. The iron spikes I have not seen. that when the rats come to them and cannot catch hold of them, they may fall upon the iron spikes which are usually fixed at the bottom, or the place you foresee pigeon house at the Dairy Farm, Bollitree, They are like the angle plates on a packing Rats have always been a source of danger to pigeons, and seem able to climb up the walls and gain entrance at the top. A number of Herefordshire dovecots are provided with a projecting string course on the outside, which baffles the climbing rats. case. The square wooden pigeon house at Ashton is said to have been moved from an orchard (still called Pigeon House Orchard) at Berrington Hall, being brought The way in which the foundations are up on rollers by several yoke of oxen. prepared seems to confirm this statement. Many of the later square pigeon houses are brick built, as the handsome example at Eardisland, where the walls run up outside the eaves, the roof being four gabled; the vane on the four gabled lantern is in the shape of a fish, for a good trout stream-the Arrow-flows at the foot of the building. The great diversity of vanes on these buildings is an interesting feature, and many of them are dated. The following are instances: Dragon, square shield with coat of arms, claw-shaped, double-headed eagle (arms of family), fox, and serpentine claw. The common weather cock only occurs in two instances, and the modern arrow I have not noticed at all. A ball on a pole is a frequent terminal to the lantern. At Foxley is an hexagonal pigeon house; the only example in the county. M Octagon is the most modern shape for pigeon houses, although the earliest example-at Hellens-is dated 1641 in large stucco letters on the brickwork, W for Ffoulkes and Margaret Walwyn; curiously together with the initials p enough the vane bears another date, E W 1753. The octagon pigeon houses, of which there are twenty-one instances in Herefordshire, are all--save one stone example-built of brick, and fitted again with the revolving ladder, which being The wall quite useless in a square building was never found in it. The nest holes are, as in the circular buildings, formed in the solid substance of the wall. thickness is 2 feet to 2 feet 2 inches, instead of the 3 feet 10 inches, the early have found that the thickness of examples of castle building times; in fact, wall is a rough criterion of the age of a pigeon house. Most pigeon houses of later days are fitted up with an inside trap in the apex of the roof, which is worked by means of a hanging cord, and enables the owner to catch the birds to replenish his larder. The large pigeon houses have always been studied from the food point of view, and members of the pigeon fancy never seem to use them. Even in the oldest English book on fancy pigeons"Moore's Columbarium," 1735-it is the "loft" and not the "house" which is always referred to. It was in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the bulk of existing pigeon houses seem to have been built, and the custom suddenly stopped in the beginning of the present century, for none appear to have been built since about 1810. Mangel Wurzels killed them," says Chancellor Ferguson, and there 66 is no doubt that since the general introduction of the system of winter feeding of cattle, and the consequent abundant supply of fresh meat during that season, the demand for pigeons as food has been greatly limited. In our forefathers' time, when salted meat was the staple for the winter, it is no wonder that the roomy pigeon house with accommodation for at least 500 couples was considered an indispensable adjunct to the larder at a country house. At the present time pigeons are kept in only about a third of these buildings. From the "English Illustrated Magazine," by permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co HEREFORDSHIRE PIGEON HOUSES. A Survey made in 1888-89 by ALFRED WATKINS, Hereford. None None Richard's Castle (Court 16' 3'-11" 630 3 gabled House) To ground Garway 17'-3" 3'-10" 666 None Yes Tarrington (Aldersend) 16' 2'-9" 576 Round Upright one Has evidently been domed over, prob- Vane-A double-headed eagle 3 dormer windows in roof, only in- Dated 1326, in perfect order,_top No traces of arched roof, ledges to Fine one with A light one Design quite different to others, probably taken from French ex- |