"Tealing Dovecot" is a Sixteenth Century Scottish "pigeon house" built by Sir David Maxwell in 1595 at Tealing Village, UK
Tealing Dovecot was built in 1595 and bears on a gable stone the arms and initials of Sir David Maxwell of Tealing and on the door lintel his monogram with that of Helen his wife. In the Middle Ages the building of Dovecots was encouraged by Act of Parliament but by the 17th Century Pigeons had become so numerous and destructive that they had to be restricted. A dovecot (or doocot) is a pigeon house. Structures like this were once a feature of many high-status residences, and contained anything from 500 to over 2,000 nesting boxes. They were built throughout Scotland, chiefly between the 1500s and 1700s. A dovecot supplied its owner with an additional source of food, particularly useful over the long winter months. Some dovecots were incorporated into other buildings, but most were free-standing structures. Externally, they had horizontal stone bands, called string courses, projecting from the walls. These were to deter rats from running up and entering through the flight-holes at the top. Inside, the walls were completely lined with stone nesting-boxes, each housing a pair of breeding birds. The birds and their eggs were taken as required. A revolving T-shaped pole, called a potence, with ladders at the outer ends, gave servants access to the upper rows of boxes. Dovecots were built in two shapes – circular (‘beehive’) and rectangular (‘lectern’). Beehives generally date from the 1500s, while lecterns are usually later. Tealing is an unusual variant of a lectern dovecot, having two pitched roofs, not one. It was built by the Maxwells of Tealing. The panel above the door bears the initials of Sir David and Dame Helen Maxwell and the date 1595. Dovecots and their valuable contents were protected by law. Shooting the laird’s pigeons was punishable by 40 days in prison, and a second offence could mean the loss of one’s right hand. There was also a popular belief that if a dovecot was demolished, the wife of the laird would be dead within the year.
Size: 3888px × 2592px
Location: Tealing, Angus, Tayside, Scotland, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Dundee Photographics / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1500`, 1595, 16th, 1700`, ancient, angus, architectural, architecture, beehive, building, buildings, century, circular, culture, dame, david, dovecot, dovecots, helen, heritage, historic, historical, history, horizontal, house, land, landscape, lectern, maxwell, medieval, middle-ages, pigeon, portraiture, property, rectangular, scotland, scottish, sir, tayside, tealing, uk, weather
