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Dovecote at Avebury Manor

Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1RD

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Dovecote, mid-C16. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1286437
Date first listed:: 21-Aug-1966
List Entry Name:: Dovecote at Avebury Manor
Statutory Address:: Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1RD

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Listed Building
Grade:: II*
List Entry Number:: 1286437
Date first listed:: 21-Aug-1966
Date of most recent amendment:: 03-Aug-2020
List Entry Name:: Dovecote at Avebury Manor
Statutory Address 1:: Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1RD

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:: Avebury, near Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1RD

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Avebury
National Grid Reference:: SU0998570001

Summary

Dovecote, mid-C16.

Reasons for Designation

The dovecote at Avebury Manor which dates from the mid-C16 is listed at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* as a well-preserved example which retains its architectural character and the key distinguishing features of early dovecotes, including the original low entrance, cupola and serried ranks of internal nest boxes, which illustrate its original function.

Historic interest:

* as an important reminder that pigeons were farmed in the post-medieval period.

Group value:

* it benefits from a spatial and functional group value with the adjacent, Grade-I listed Avebury Manor, to which it provided highly-prized meat. It also groups well with the barn (Grade I), former stables (Grade II) and the abutting boundary wall (Grade II).

History

Avebury Manor stands on the site of a Benedictine Priory. It was sold in 1411 to Fotheringhay College which held the lands until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and in 1547 was granted to Sir William Sharington. In 1551 the house and estate were then sold to William Dunch, a wealthy businessman and Auditor to the Royal Mint. The house underwent various alterations and refurbishment over the centuries, and was extended in about 1750, 1850 and around 1907. The surrounding land was sold to the National Trust in 1943 by the then owner Alexander Keiller and in 1991 the Trust purchased the house.

Within a partly-walled enclosure to the east of the house is a stone-built dovecote which dates from the mid-C16. An article from 1917 (see SOURCES) which refers to late-C16 depositions considers that it was built sometime between 1533 and 1569. Dovecotes (or pigeon houses) are specialised structures designed for the breeding and keeping of doves as a source of food and as a symbol of high social status. Most surviving examples were built in the period between the C14 and the C17, although earlier and later examples are documented.

Details

Dovecote, mid-C16.

MATERIALS: it is constructed of local sarsen rubble, formerly rendered, under a conical stone-slate roof.

DESCRIPTION: the building is circular on plan, with slightly battered, roughly-coursed rubble stone walls with repairs in stone. It has a low, square-headed doorway to the south with a timber lintel and recessed plank door with strap hinges. On the north side is a cambered-arched doorway with brick surround, timber stable-type door and rectangular fanlight which is a later insertion. There are overhanging eaves and the roof is surmounted by an open cupola with its own stone-slate conical cap for pigeon entry. It is crowned by a ball finial. The interior has lime washed walls and is lined with some 15 ranks of nesting boxes without alighting ledges, and there is no ladder. The floor is laid with stone rubble.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 311455
Legacy System:: LBS

Sources

Books and journals
'Notes on Wiltshire Parishes. Avebury' in Wiltshire Notes and Queries, , Vol. VIII, (1917), 214-224
Websites
Dovecote at Avebury Manor, Avebury, accessed 4 February 2020 from https://heritagerecords.nationaltrust.org.uk/HBSMR/MonRecord.aspx?uid=MNA136889
SU17SW453, Dovecote, Avebury Manor, Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record , accessed 4 February 2020 from https://services.wiltshire.gov.uk/HistoryEnvRecord/Home/ViewHERItem?HER=MWI15626

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.