. A book of dovecotes. uilt the oldmarket-hall of Hereford, now, alas! a thing ofthe past; and he rendered valuable services tothe city in 1645, when it was besieged by theScottish army, by constructing corn-mills. Fullmany a delightful cottage and farmhouse inblack and white was probably John Abelswork; nor is it unreasonable to attribute to himsome of the half-timbered dovecotes still tobe seen in the district—notably perhaps thecharming specimen already visited at ButtHouse, Kings Pyon, dated 1632, when Abelwould be in the prime of life. But for the moment we are now concernedwith a date ea
. A book of dovecotes. uilt the oldmarket-hall of Hereford, now, alas! a thing ofthe past; and he rendered valuable services tothe city in 1645, when it was besieged by theScottish army, by constructing corn-mills. Fullmany a delightful cottage and farmhouse inblack and white was probably John Abelswork; nor is it unreasonable to attribute to himsome of the half-timbered dovecotes still tobe seen in the district—notably perhaps thecharming specimen already visited at ButtHouse, Kings Pyon, dated 1632, when Abelwould be in the prime of life. But for the moment we are now concernedwith a date earlier than John Abels time, andwith material far more durable than that withwhich he mostly worked. Our business is withthe small tower of the church itself. Its heightfrom ground to wall-plate is biit little overthirtyfeet, and its internal measurement is only eightfeet square. The walls are massive, being somethree feet thick. About twenty years ago, Mr. George Mar-shall, the owner of Sarnesfield Court, noticed,120. TWO PIGEONS ON A ROOF CHURCH PIGEQNS while examining the interior surface of the tow-er walls, a number of holes observable in theirupper portion. These he at first took to beniches in which the joists of a former belfrychamber had been inserted, but closer studysoon dispelled this first surmise. The openingswere all uniforni in size—six inches square;the holes entered the walls at an angle, andthey enlarged gradually until a depth of fromfifteen to eighteen inches was reached. Thereare six tiers of holes in each of the four walls,the usual number of the holes in every tierbeing four, though there are sometimes five;one or two occur also on either side of the lan-cet windows. Below each tier of holes thereis a stone alighting-ledge. There cannot be the slightest doubt thatthese were nests for pigeons; not adapted tosuch purpose as an after-thought, but plannedand executed when the tower was built. As thetower dates from the first half of the thirteenthcentury
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectpigeons, bookyear1920
