Survey Data
Reg No
31822001
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Historical, Social, Technical
Original Use
Aviary/dovecote/pigeon house
In Use As
Animal house
Date
1810 - 1850
Coordinates
183193, 257635
Date Recorded
01/09/2003
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached square-plan former dovecote, built c.1830, now in use as a farm outbuilding. Replacement pitched corrugated-iron roof. Random coursed stone walls with string course. Segmental-arched entrance to east. Brick-lined walls to interior with regularly-spaced niches for nesting pigeons or doves. Dovecote is located in the fair green.
Appraisal
This dovecote, retaining its original form and fittings, is a reminder of the agricultural practices of the past. Though uncommon in today's Irish diet, pigeon was popularly eaten in former centuries, and as such many demesnes and estates had dovecotes. Though no longer used, this structure is an artefact of eighteenth and nineteenth-century culture.