Garway Dovecote stands close to the Church of St Michael in the village of

Garway Garway is a civil parish in south-west Herefordshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 430 at the 2011 census. It is set on a hillside above the River Monnow about 6 1/4 miles (10 km) northwest of Monmouth. It is a sparsel ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

, England.

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

dates the

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot (Scots Language, Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house Domestic pigeon, pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or b ...

to the early 14th century. The original structure was built by the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

, and later reconstructed by their successors, the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there ...

. The dovecote is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History and description

The present dovecote dates from the 14th century when it was built by the

. Documentary and build evidence suggests that this was a reconstruction of an earlier building erected by the

. The Templars had established a

preceptor A preceptor (from Latin, "''praecepto''") is a teacher responsible for upholding a ''precept'', meaning a certain law or tradition. Buddhist monastic orders Senior Buddhist monks can become the preceptors for newly ordained monks. In the Buddhi ...

y at Garway in the 12th century. The Church of St Michael, which stands adjacent to the dovecote, was originally the principal building of the preceptory site. The Friends of Garway Church society gives a build date for the dovecote of 1326. The dovecote is circular and constructed of

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

with a flattened

conical roof A conical roof or cone roof is a cone-shaped roof that is circular at its base and terminates in a point. Distribution Conical roofs are frequently found on top of towers in medieval town fortifications and castles, where they may either sit d ...

. The interior holds 19 rows of nesting boxes. The

pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

s kept within the structure provided a source of meat, and their

droppings Feces (also known as faeces or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relatively small amount of ...

were used as

fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...

. In his study, ''A Book of Dovecotes'' published in 1920, Arthur Owens Cooke described the Garway dovecote at unusual length owing to its "its undoubted age ndthe excellence of its workmanship". The Friends' website describes Garway as "the finest

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

in England", a view supported by Alfred Watkins in his study, ''Pigeon Houses of Herefordshire and Gower''. It is a

and a

Gallery

Archaeological Journal, Volume 1, 00283a.png, Illustration from the Archaeological Journal, 1845 Doveholes in a dovecot - geograph.org.uk - 3262489.jpg, Doveholes Interior of Dovecot - geograph.org.uk - 3262486.jpg, Roof

Notes

References

Sources

* * * {{Cite journal , last = Watkins, first = Alfred , title=Pigeon Houses in Herefordshire and Gower , journal=Archaeological Journal , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G9cLtkXFY88C , volume=48 , year=1891 , location=London , publisher=

Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publisher, publishing company founded in 1724 in London, England, which is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman ...

Grade I listed buildings in Herefordshire Scheduled monuments in Herefordshire Dovecotes