Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot, doocot or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in the Middle East and Europe and were kept for their eggs and dung.
History and geography
The oldest dovecotes are thought to have been the fortress-like dovecotes of Upper Egypt and the domed dovecotes of Iran. In these regions the droppings were used by farmers for fertilization. Pigeon droppings were also used for leather tanning and making gunpowder.In some cultures, particularly Medieval Europe, the possession of a dovecote was a symbol of status and power and was consequently regulated by law. Only nobles had this special privilege, known as droit de colombier.
Many ancient manors in France and the United Kingdom have a dovecote still standing in a section of the manorial enclosure, or in nearby fields. Examples include Château de Kerjean in Brittany, France, Houchin, France, Bodysgallen Hall in Wales, and Muchalls Castle and Newark Castle in Scotland.
Middle East
Dotted with wooden pegs and hundreds of holes, the towers provided shelter and breeding areas for the birds to nest and raise their young in a mostly harsh desert environment. In Saudi Arabia, fourteen towers were spotted in 2020 and were the oldest seen in the Middle Eastern country. They have often been spotted in Iran, Egypt, and Qatar, where they have a lengthy history dating back to the 13th century. Dovecotes are also prevalent in ancient Iran and Anatolia. Pigeons were found in human settlements in Egypt and the Middle East since the dawn of agriculture, probably attracted to seeds people planted for their crops.Iran
In the 17th century, a European traveller counted up to 3000 dovecotes in the Isfahan area of Persia. Today, over 300 historic dovecotes have been identified in Isfahan Province and a total of 65 have been registered on the National Heritage List. Dovecotes were constructed to produce large quantities of high-quality organic fertilizer for Isfahan's rich market gardens. The largest dovecotes could house 14,000 birds, and were decorated in distinctive red bands so as to be easily recognizable to the pigeons.Cappadocia
The dovecotes in Cappadocia are mostly designed like rooms which are set up by carving the rocks. The oldest examples of these cotes in the region were built in the 18th century but they are few. Most of the cotes in the region were built in the 19th and early 20th century. It is significantly evident that the cotes were constructed near water sources, on a place, above the valley and their entrance, called as mouth of the cotes were mostly built in the east or south direction of valleys. By this way of construction, it was proposed to protect the cotes from cold and get sunlight inside. The cotes were generally constructed by carving the rocks as a room.Columbaria in ancient Rome
The presence of dovecotes is not documented in France before the Roman invasion of Gaul by Caesar. Pigeon keeping was then a passion in Rome: the Roman-style, generally round, columbarium had its interior covered with a white coating of marble powder. Varro, Columella, and Pliny, all wrote about pigeon keeping and dovecote construction.In the city of Rome in the time of the Republic and the Empire the internal design of the banks of pigeonholes was adapted for the purpose of disposing of cremated ashes after death: These columbaria were generally constructed underground.
France
The French word for dovecote is pigeonnier or colombier. In some French provinces, especially Normandy, the dovecotes were built of wood in a very stylized way. Stone was the other popular building material for these old dovecotes. These stone structures were usually built in circular, square and occasionally octagonal form. Some of the medieval French abbeys had very large stone dovecotes on their grounds.In Brittany, the dovecote was sometimes built directly into the upper walls of the farmhouse or manor-house. In rare cases, it was built into the upper gallery of the lookout tower. Dovecotes of this type are called tour-fuie in French.
Even some of the larger château-forts, such as the Château de Suscinio in Morbihan, still have a complete dovecote standing on the grounds, outside the moat and walls of the castle.
Colombiers and pigeonniers
In France, it was called a colombier, fuie or pigeonnier. With its extensive cultivation of grain, the favourite food of pigeons, France had 42,000 pigeonniers by the 17th century, especially in Normandy and the Midi.The dovecote interior, the space granted to the pigeons, is divided into a number of boulins. Each boulin is the lodging of a pair of pigeons. These boulins can be in rock, brick or cob and installed at the time of the construction of the dovecote or be in pottery, in braided wicker in the form of a basket or of a nest. It is the number of boulins that indicates the capacity of the dovecote. The ones at the chateau d'Aulnay in Aulnay-sous-Bois and the one at Château de Panloy in Port-d'Envaux are among the largest in France.
In the Middle Ages, particularly in France, the possession of a colombier à pied, constructed separately from the corps de logis of the manor-house, was a privilege of the seigneurial lord. He was granted permission by his overlord to build a dovecote or two on his estate lands. For the other constructions, the dovecote rights varied according to the provinces. They had to be in proportion to the importance of the property, placed in a floor above a henhouse, a kennel, a bread oven, even a wine cellar. Generally, the aviaries were integrated into a stable, a barn or a shed, and were permitted to use no more than of arable land.