Dunster, Somerset

Inside view

Anyone who looks at the different types of building that I write about on the English Buildings blog would be forgiven for thinking that I have a bit of a thing about dovecotes. I’ve done about a dozen posts about dovecotes over the years and yes, I do like them, both for the light they shed on past lives and diets and for their variety of structural forms – examples include structures built of stone, brick and wood; plans range from squares to octagons and, mostly common of all, circles.

Why circular dovecotes? The one at Dunster, which may date back to the 13th or 14th century but which many think is more likely to be 16th century, is well enough preserved to show how such a building worked. From the outside, the emphasis is on solid walls and small openings (through the little lantern or louvre at the top), to let in the doves or pigeons, while keeping out larger predators. The largest predator of all, man, can enter through the door, which would most of the time have been kept securely closed. Through it, the workers of the local lord (or, if the dovecote is from one of the earlier possible dates, monks of the Benedictine priory)* could enter and gain access to the nest boxes, where the eggs or young birds could be gathered to provide a welcome supplement to the medieval diet.

The key feature inside, apart from the 500 or so nest boxes set in the walls, is the central wooden device called the potence (photograph below). This consists of a substantial central post that can rotate and to which are attached horizontal beams and platforms. These in turn support a ladder. When the potence is turned, the ladder gives access to different next boxes, making the whole array of boxes accessible. Many ancient dovecotes have lost this mechanism, but at Dunster it’s preserved, giving us more of an idea than usual about how the dovecote was used, and an insight into the ingenuity of medieval and later carpenters.

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* Only nobles or members of the clergy (monastic or secular) were allowed to build and maintain dovecotes in the Middle Ages.

Dunster dovecote, interior showing nest boxes and potence