Bogward Doocot is a rare early beehive-type doocot, or

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 ...

, in the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

town of

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. In 1971, it was designated as a Category A

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 ...

Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...

History

The doocot was most likely built in the early to mid-16th century.

RCAHMS The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" inanced and with oversightthrough Historic Scotland, an executive ...

notes from 1956 describe the building as being in 'good condition', despite the roof having collapsed. Management of the building was passed to the St Andrews Preservation Trust in 1960, following which the roof was repaired, and the door replaced. The doocot was originally owned by the Priory of St Andrews, which benefited from both the meat and eggs of the resident pigeons, as well as their accumulated manure, which was used as a natural lime-rich fertilizer.

Description

The doocot is located to the west of St Andrews, on Doocot Road, which was named after the structure. It contains three rat-courses, used to prevent rats from climbing the doocot and stealing eggs. Birds may use the upper rat-course as a ledge when entering the doocot. A wooden door at the base of the structure allows entry to its interior, where there is a rotating ladder, giving access to the nesting boxes at the top.

References

{{coord, 56.32997, -2.82341, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title St Andrews Dovecotes Category A listed buildings in Fife