A. O. Cooke The Pigeoncote

We were not able to go to Haddingtonshire on our visit, but the kind readers John Jenkins and David Elder have provided wonderful information about some of these grand structures. We are indebted to them for these annotations and photographs

David notes that Doocots found here are often described by their general shape. They are the, beehives lecterns, square, octagonal and cylindrical. Beehive doocots are believed to be the earliest type, dating from the sixteenth century or earlier and the beehive doocot in the wall of Dirleton Castle is thought to be the oldest and contains 1,100 nesting boxes. Other beehive doocots are those at Congalton, Dolphinstone, Luffness, Northfield Prestonpans, Nunraw, Phantassie, Waughton and West Meikle Pinkerton. Lectern doocots date from the late 16th Century and 17th Century and are easily identified because of their shape and were built with the sloping roof facing south to provide heat for the pigeons, Lectern doocots were either single chambered or double-chambered, being two adjoining single chambers and the gable walls had crow stepped gables. Sometimes in double lecterns each chamber had its own door but in some there is one door in the exterior wall and then separate doors to each chamber internally. The flight holes in lectern doocots are usually in a row across the roof which is in two levels. The doocot at Johnstonburn House is probably the largest of its type with about 2,000 nesting boxes. Other lectern doocots can be found at Athelstaneford, now converted into the Heritage Flag Centre, (the lintel above the door being engraved with the initials “GH” and the date “1583” the initials being those of George Hepburn, the father of Sir John Hepburn the founder and first Colonel of the Royal Scots), Belton, Biel, Bourhouse, East Fortune, Eskgrove Inveresk, Fountainhall, Crocegate (The Butts) Haddington, Herdmanston, Humbie (converted into a house), The Abbey North Berwick, The Lodge North Berwick, Pencaitland, Pilmuir, Pinkie House, Preston Tower, Redhouse, Ruchlaw, St Clement Wells, Saltcoats Castle , Spott House, Tantallon Castle, and Tranent. Most of the square, octagonal and cylindrical doocots date from the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Examples of square doocots can be found at Bankton, Castle Mains Gifford, Gifford Vale, Huntington, Newtonhall, Saltoun Hall, and Thurston. Cylindrical doocots can be found at Bolton, Colstoun, Elvingston, Lady Kitty’s Garden Haddington, The Heugh North Berwick, Ormiston Hall, Rockville and St Germains and there are octagonal doocots at Keith Marischal and Winton House. Doocots can also be found in other buildings the Churches at Aberlady, Pencaitland, Stenton Old Church and Whitekirk all had doocots in their towers and doocots can be found in Hailes Castle, Friars Croft Dunbar, Stoneypath Tower and Tranent Tower. In addition to these doocots there are also doocots in at least 20 farm steadings in East Lot

Northfield House

First comes the circular example close to Northfield House, a delightful building of the early seventeenth century, the date upon the lintel of the door being 1611, to which is added the motto, "Unless the Lord build, in vain builds man." In truth the house, with gables, overhanging turrets, and quaint corners upon every side, is more attractive than the dovecote, which presents no very special charm. It is a large, substantial, circular building of stone, with three string-courses and a vaulted roof.

Port Seton - Musselburgh

Now down the hill until we reach the winding tramway running between Musselburgh and Port Seton. Here, in a brewer's yard upon the very margin of the Firth of Forth, are two more dovecotes; tall, not specially attractive buildings, one of which at least is sliding down the easy road to ruin. They are of interest from the fact that they stand close together - barely fifteen yards apart; a situation possibly accounted for by the fact that two different abbeys Holyrood and Newbattle - formerly held lands in the district.

Returning to the station, Tranent church is visible upon the hillside, lying a mile away to the south-east. As we approach it we shall see the dovecote just below the churchyard wall. This is of special interest, being one of the oldest dated examples in Scotland; 1587 is the date upon the lintel, where we also make out the name "David Sitoun." There are the traces of another name upon a stone a little higher up, which has all the appearance of being a fragment of gravestone.

The dovecote is of stone and oblong, with but a single chamber; The door has been walled up, and entrance is impossible. An ugly gaping crack beside it tells of the damage wrought by subsidence, coal-pits being now on every side, and one of the largest coal-washing plants in the kingdom a prominent feature of the foreground.

Unfortunately, this is now very dilapidated and proved too difficult to photograph.

It is a rather long and uninteresting road which runs east from Tranent, changing from one side to the other of the railway line by level crossings, and leading through the village of Longniddry, with its Veterans' dwellings just a shade too studied in their effort to be picturesque. At a large homestead half-a-mile beyond Longniddry station we find cottages much pleasanter to look upon than those too often seen on Lothian farms; and a large dovecote occupies a chamber over the main entrance to the yard.

Redhouse

The upper story is of two compartments, each originally furnished with a separate door placed eight feet from the ground. One of these doors has been blocked up, an internal communication being made between the compartments. Each is still lined with oblong nests, and each has in its vaulted roof an aperture. This is a very rare example of an upper story dovecote being in two divisions. The building was constructed with unusual strength and obvious care, the vaulting of both floors being specially worthy of notice.

John Jenkins reports that this doocot has had an interesting recent history.  In 1997, an organisation called the Scottish Flag Trust renovated the building and opened an exhibition in the restored doocot.  A booklet provided by the Trust notes that "Athelstaneford has a special place in Scottland's history.  Tradition records that near this East Lothian village in 832AD, a battle was fought which led to the adoption of the St. Adnrews' Cross, or Saltire, as Scotland's flag.
An army of Picts under King Angus, and aided by a contingent of Scots, was invading Lothian (at that time still Northumbrian territory), and found itself surrounded by a larger force of Saxons, led by Athelstan.  Fearing the outcome, Angus led prayers for deliverance and was rewarded by seeing, against a blue sky, a great white cross like St. Andrew's.
The king vowed that if, with the saint's help, they gained the victory, then Andrew would thereafter be the patron saint of Scotland.
I may say that the above quoted legend is similar to many other ones. A similar tale is, I think, connected to the conversion of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity.So in 1997 a Heritage Centre was opened in the restored doocot ,and nowadays it is used for an audio-visual dramatization of the alleged origin of the flag.

Athelstaneford

It stands below the churchyard wall; a building about sixteen feet square, and seven feet six inches high to the lower of its two string courses. Its material is rubble stone of all shapes and sizes, an opportunity for examination being only too well afforded by the fact that the north wall now lies in ruin upon the ground, leaving the nests inside intact. This disaster occurred during the winter of 1919-20, and it is to be feared that unless steps are promptly taken to repair the damage, the whole house will presently be down. A villager bemoans the coming loss, but adds that "with so many war memorials folk have little coin to spare."

The walls are over three feet thick, the door no more than two feet six in breadth. Over the latter is a stone which carries the date 1583, enclosed in an oblong knotted design. Here, then, we have another dovecote of well-proved and definite antiquity. The gable-walls are corbie-stepped, and the roof is in two planes, with entrance-holes below the eaves.

Inside there are about a thousand nests. As in some other square Scottish dovecotes there is a potence - or a rather poor attempt at one. The central post revolves, but carries a rough framing, with no sign of a true ladder

Gilmerton House

More modern than the one just visited, it is in some ways more pleasing; for, far from being deserted and in semi-ruin, it is well populated and in excellent repair. As the door opens to the turning of the key, pigeons swarm out through the small cupola that tops the dome-shaped roof; through the three curious little windows immediately above the upper of two string courses; even through the door itself, so urgent seems their haste.

Phantassie

This Doocot is rather curious because it is of beehive design, but with a sloping lectern type roof. It is now in the care of the National Trust for Scotland.

The background is well worth a glance before we give attention to the pigeon-house itself. Beyond the fields that lie before us is the winding river, and upon its farther bank is Prestonkirk, snugly ensconced below a ridge of hill. That hill-slope is a curious sight to eyes accustomed rather to the verdant pastures of the English Midlands or Welsh Borders than to Lothianlands. Field after field, without a break of intervening green, is red in spring with the bare soil of Britain's finest land; golden in early autumn with the ripening grain. The eye may weary at so long a stretch of cultivation, but the heart rejoices at the thought of such a grain-producing land.

Now to the very curious dovecote standing here. It is of stone and circular - nothing uncommon about either point, considering where we are. But circular dovecotes are most often covered by a circular domed roof. Not so the one before us. Its builder clearly knew the benefit of giving to its occupants a sheltered southern slope, and this is how he set himself to carry out the plan.

The height of the round wall is varied, highest towards the north and lowest to the south. The roof is therefore sloping, slightly horseshoe-shaped, and is a foot or more below the summit of the walls, thus affording additional protection from cold winds. Entrance is given by a curious low broad dormer window, also by a row of holes below the eaves, which give a happy effect of miniature arcading.

The dovecote is a large one, the circumference being sixty feet; massive in structure, for the walls are four feet thick. The doorway measures five feet high by two feet broad. Inside are about five hundred nest-holes; also a not uninteresting substitute for the usual potence, perhaps deemed too difficult of nice adjustment in a house which narrows markedly as the walls ascend. There is a fixed post rising to the roof. Against it is secured a ladder giving access to a large proportion of the nests. Those at a still higher level are reached from a shorter ladder fixed in the reverse direction from that taken by the one below. In short, the dovecote at Phantassie is one well worth seeing.

Unfortunately, the double lecturn design doocot at Spott as  (2001) was in a sad state of repair and there were holes in the roof. But the resident at Spott Estate has resotered it to it's formal glory.

Spott

Witches were burnt at Spott in 1705; and at this village, on a Sunday just three centuries and a half ago, the Reverend John Kello, parson of the place, strangled his wife with a towel, hanged her on the chamber wall in order to suggest the death being due to suicide, and then, leaving the manse and entering the church, preached calmly to his waiting flock.

The dovecote, easily discovered, is a well kept, typical example; oblong and of two compartments. The doorways seem modern enlargements, but the ornamental pillars standing on the higher wall are probably original.

Dunbar

This doocot was evidently part of an old friary, and now looks even more incongruous, as it closely adjoins the car park of a modern supermarket!

Ugly indeed, but curious; for it is an oblong building, not, as usual, with a lean-to roof, but one which slopes both north and south. Moreover, the ridge runs across, and not in the direction of, the length. The slopes originally met at a gable-ridge, still clearly to be seen. But at some unknown period an extraordinary addition has been made. The ridge was "capped" by an immense square-topped inverted wedge of masonry. It was doubtless to support this formidable addition of weight that there were introduced within two massive arches, crossing from side to side, and built of a greyer stone than that of the main body of the house. The lower ends of each arch take the form of a well finished roll.

The nests are to a large extent filled in. An ordinary ladder gives access to most of them; but, high in the gable-ridge and in the addition already described, there is a small potence, carried by a beam which runs across the house.

It is difficult to suggest an explanation of the curious addition to this dovecote. It adds very little to the accommodation; it is exceedingly clumsy and top-heavy in appearance; and, as seen by the introduction of arches, it called for drastic measures for its safe support. There, however, it is, defying conjecture, silently hiding its strange origin.

This old and rugged doocot is now looked after by Historic Scotland, the Scottish equivalent of English Heritage. The roof now is neat and tidy as can be seen in the photograph.  It shows the edge of the castle building and the Bass Rock in the background.  The rock is a well known feature at the entrance of the Firth of Forth. East Lothain is a good place for doocots  I myself have a total of 43 East Lothian doocots in my database, and have photos of 25 of these at present

Tantallon

If, in returning from Dunbar to Edinburgh, we keep as far as possible beside the intervening stretch of iron coast, we shall soon come upon a dovecote which is probably well known to many a visitor - that at Tantallon's still imposing although ruined hold. Here, opposite the castle's entrance, in a field still guarded by a ditch and mound, we find a fine old dovecote of the oblong shape; placed but a stone's-throw from the edge of the sheer cliff on which Tantallon stands, above the shore on which the North Sea thunders without pause.

Simple and homely, the Tantallon dovecote has a beauty of its own; for its old roof is grass grown, and upon its crumbling string-course blooms the gorse. It is of two compartments, one still showing all its nests intact, while in the other only those which lined one wall remain. Each chamber has an oblong opening in the roof. The building is some five and twenty feet in length by seventeen feet broad. A rather unusual feature is that the two doors are not, as usual, side by side, that of one chamber being at the end.

The Tantollon doocot is an example of the lectern type of dovecote, mentioned above, known also in France, but very uncommon in England.  Another doocot, not mentioned by Cooke, in East Lothain, is located at Dirleton Castle only a few miles to the west of Tantallon.  This is one fine example of an earlier Scots type known as a beehive.