09/05/2016
Ever since I was a bairn of primary school age I had an early appreciation & love for pigeon doocots, the craftsmanship in their construction really captured me, but not until later in life did I understand their purpose.
As a youngster I had a friend who's parents owned the Bourhouse mansion house & surrounding lands of which there is a doocot on the grounds, my friend & I used muck about inside the doocot climbing up the stone nesting boxes as high as we could trying to catch pigeons, gathering their eggs to throw at one another & using the doocot like an obstacle coarse trying to scale around all four walls without falling or touching the ground which was thick with dried pigeon poo !
So the idea of this blog & more to follow is to share with you these amazingly crafted & useful buildings of the wealthy estate days here around East Lothian. The first blog covers the doocots of 'Nunraw', 'Papple', 'Ruchlaw', 'Drylawhill', 'Phantassie' & finally 'Friarscroft'.
To understand the purpose of doocots, they were man-made shelters for domesticated doves/pigeons farmed primarily for their flesh & are among the oldest agricultural buildings in Scotland. For several centuries in Scotland the young birds were eaten as a delicacy & early household diaries record their arrival in the larder while cookbooks contain recipes for pies, roasts & stews. A by-product was the accumulated dung, a valuable source of nutrients before the introduction of chemical fertilisers, the gathered dung was also used in tanning leather.
Doocots were prestigious buildings, their erection generally the preserve of wealthy families & institutions.
So setting off on my doocot quest I head for the hills up past Elmscleugh farm making my way to the first doocot on my list at Nunraw near the village of Garvald.
The mid morning sun was blazing & the sky was blue, it was a cracking day & probably the hottest day of the year so far.
Climbing higher & higher into the Lammermuir Hills the heat was so intense that already I was burning up & had drank about half of one of my two water bottles already. I'd been climbing upwards non stop from Innerwick but reaching Elmscleugh the massive steep hill from there is a real work out at the best of times & in this heat was a really hard going.
Riding through the Monynut Forest the breeze pushed up from the coast had all but disappeared by now & the strong fragrant pine smells were amazing in the hot sun.
Leaving the country road behind & into the former Crystal Forest now the Crystal Rig wind farm I carried on along the rough maintenance roads.
Nice to see areas planted up with native species such as birch & rowan trees, protected from the deer by high fencing until the young trees are established.
Spartleton Hill, I'll need to go back up there soon for a wild camp, from the top it has 360 views & has amazing sunset & sunrises.
Continuing onwards following the pylon road with the raspy song of skylarks all around, the bleating of sheep & the crunching of the tyres as they rolled over the rough ground it was a pleasant cycle & the heat was a bit more bearable now that the roads had levelled out a bit & not as much energy was required through the pedals.
That water of the West Burn looked tempting to dunk my head in to cool down but I resisted.
And an old run down sheepfold with a ewe & her lamb.
Nice easy going now along the pylon road, it's just nice going through the motions enjoying the views of the surrounding Lammermuirs listening to the skylarks & grouse.
Back onto the wee country hill roads at Johnscleugh as it weaves & twists it's way up & down along the contours of the land.
Arriving at the crest of the hill where the lowlands & coast come back into view you could feel the air change & the slight breeze which was most welcomed.
It's hard to make out with the haze in the distance & the camera never really captured the brilliant views from here.
White Castle iron age hill fort in the above bottom three pictures, not much left to see other than the earth works where the ramparts once were, I wonder how the lay of the land has changed since the fort was occupied if it's changed much at all.
After a little time sitting, eating, drinking & admiring the view I took off down the hill nearing my first doocot at Nunraw but I had to stop by these trees as I could hear a cuckoo very loudly which was in one of these trees, I waited a good ten to fifteen minutes trying to spot it but I never did see it, I could hear it & it could probably see me but it never gave away it's position ! Iv'e never seen a cuckoo in the wild before, I've heard them many a time but never actually seen one & I wasn't getting to see one today either :-(
Arriving at Nunraw which is a beautiful part of the countryside, Iv'e always thought that it has a real olden days feel to it, the land around here is farmed by monks from the nearby Sancta Maria Abbey.
Entering into the grounds of Nunraw estate there has been recent tree felling of hard & softwoods on a grand scale within the grounds.
Nunraw Tower which until recently was owned by the Cistercian Monks which they used as a guest house for visitors to the Nunraw Abbey.
The Tower with 24 bedrooms & 138 acres of land has recently been put up for sale & as the monks carry out a downsizing project for a mere £2m & I think at that price is just a token gesture of it's worth especially when you see the ridiculous prices of the quick erect horrible houses that are being thrown up in my local town of Dunbar.
I think the Tower has now been sold as when I was passing by en route to the doocot which is located a stones throw from the Tower there were dozens of work vans & workers everywhere & when I arrived they were all sitting about their vans having their dinner. It was clear to see that a massive renovation project was going on.
"Nunraw doocot"
And just my luck it was bad timing as the doocot was also being restored & covered in scaffolding ! All for the greater good though, I hate to see the doocots I'm familiar with deteriorating to a point where they are dangerous & beyond repair, I personally think they should all be restored as national treasures of our history, culture & heritage before it's too late as it already has been for many which have been destroyed. I 'borrowed' the bottom two pictures from Google to show you what the doocot looks like without a scaffold surrounding it.
And the history of Nunraw doocot:-
Nunraw lands were granted to Cistercian nuns by MalcolmIV. The last three prioresses were Hepburns, and that family built a Z-plan tower in the late 16th century which was incorporated into a baronial mansion for the Hay family in the 1860's. The Cistercian order returned to Nunraw in 1946, this time the incumbents being monks.
The beehive style doocot was probably contemporaneous with the 16th century tower, and lies about 50m from the front of the 19th century mansion. It rises in four stages, the lower two of random rubble, the upper two of dressed stone, with the fourth set back. On top is a tall, relatively modern, hexagonal stone cupola looking, to some observers, more like a belfry than a glover.
The door, with a relieving arch, is on the south-east side, and there is one window. The second of the four stringcourses is interrupted on the south-west side by a wide alighting ledge, above which is a row of 24 flight holes. The floor is sunken, and the full complement of about 450 stone nest boxes is said to be intact. The unusual tapering shape and the change in masonry suggest that the upper part may have been re-built at some point. Apart from a little vegetation on the walls the doocot is in good repair.
Around the grounds of the Tower there is a huge collection of monkey puzzle trees, I don't think I've ever seen so many in the one place before.
The gate/lodge house entrance into the tower grounds, itself a majestic & impressive looking building.
Down the hill passing through the village of Garvald & onwards to my next doocot related mission. I love these old road signs with imperial measurements.
Not too far away from Nunraw is the farm of Papple with a pigeon loft incorporated into the church like spire & four gables over an arched entrance into the farm compound.
A great time of the year to be riding out in the countryside the bright colours & strong pungent smell coming from the oil seed rape fields was strong in the heat of the afternoon sun & the hedgerow birds were in full chorus.
Onwards & onwards I went now passing through Whittingehame, a place that holds a lot of good memories for me as a bairn I spent a lot of time up here with my Grandad as he worked on the estate.
As I rode through under the shade of the mature trees the countryside smells changed, here the strong onion smell of the wild garlic emitting from the woodland floor was really potent.
Up through what's known a the dry arch, now a declassified road probably down to the walls starting to break away.
"Ruchlaw doocot"
At one time the Ruchlaw lands belonged to the Earls of Dunbar. Archibald Sydserf, of a Norman familywhich had been in East Lothian since the 12th century, erectedan L-plan house in the early 17th century. This has since been extended in several stages, remaining in the family until 1950.
The large 17th century double lectern doocot is beside cottages, 250m from the mansion. It is built of random rubble, is substantially harled, buttressed to the west, and supports a low lean-to building on the north side. There are two stringcourses; the second is high up on the rear wall, returning briefly along the gables. The slated roof faces south & is interrupted by a horizontal row of 20 flight holes. There is no rear parapit, and the plain skewtabled gables run down with only one step. The partition wall does not break the roof. There is a modern rhone & down-pipe.
Ea ch chamber has a doorway in the front wall, an opening above, and a smaller opening approaching the eaves, all four openings have modern wooden louvres. There are variously reported to have been between 1300 & 1400 nest boxes starting abut 1m above floor level. As the doocot appears from the outside to be in a good state of repair these are possibly largely intact. There are however no pigeons.
Off on my travels again passing loads of these old sign posts, I'd forgot how many there are.
Great photo opportunities against the bright yellow backdrop of the oil seed rape fields, loads of buzzing insects feeding off the flowering rape seed & a lot of singing hedgerow birds feeding off the insects too.
Down off the hills now into East Linton crossing the river Tyne.
"Drylawhill doocot"
The 16th century doocot pre-dates the 18th century improvement farm on which it stands, perhaps being contemporary with the earlier mansion, some way off, which has now disappeared. It is of generously pointed random rubble sandstone with 2 stringcourses, and stands on a rock outcrop in a paddock about 60m from the present farmhouse. The slated conical roof is perhaps a replacement for a shallower stone slab room more typical of this type of doocot.
The three features of the south side, the iron-clad door, a row of 14 flight holes below the eaves, and a swept wooden dormer with 4 flight holes and landing ledge are not prfectly aligned with one another.
Most of the 600 stone nest boxes, starting 1.1m above ground level, have survived although some have been re-built in brick.
Despite a little encroachment of grass and other weeds, the doocot seems from the outside to be in quite good condition & it is still used by pigeons.
I like this little tribute to the doocot, the present farmhouse place name with a little stone built beehive style doocot just like the one stood here.
Heading to my next doocot crossing the river Tyne at Preston Mill.
"Phantassie doocot"
The prosperous farm of Phantassie was occupied by the Rennie family. John Rennie, the civil engineer, was born there in1761. His brother George was a leading agricultural improver and extended the 18th century farmhouse into a small mansion in 1820.
The 16th century doocot, an adjunct of an earlier estate, is in a field about 100m north of the farm outbuildings, and is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. It's French influenced design is unusual for Scotland, taking the form of a beehive but with the top section cut away at an angle to give a steeply sloping one-way, south-facing roof enclosed by a horseshoe shaped parapet. It was restored about 1975.
There are three stringcourses. Since an earlier restoration of the early 1960's, characterless harling has covered the random rubble walls.There are 16 flight holes in a row immediately below the eaves & above the top stringcourse, and a further 4 in a swept dormer near the roof apex with a wooden landing ledge below.
There is a door on the west side. The floor is sunk, and the rows of about 550 stone nest boxes of varying sizes start over 1.5m above it. The potence, as restored, does not revolve but supports a wide central fixed ladder The doocot is in very good condition and is used by pigeons.
Following the river Tyne along the route of the John Muir Way long distance coast to coast route for a little while.
As I rode along I was watching the farm machinery planting potatoes, amazing how far agricultural technology has come over the years, just a couple of generations ago most of the work was done by horses & many farm hands & now it can be done with just one or two men & big powerful tractors.
Arriving at John Muir Country Park & the shade from the trees was most welcome.
"Friarscroft Doocot"
A Trinitarian priory was founded in the 13th century by the Countess of Dunbar. The members of the order, the Red Friars, moved to Peebles in 1529, 30 years or so before the Reformation in Scotland. All that survives of the building is the tower, formaly between the nave & choir, with the connecting arches on either side of it filled in, though traces of skews of the previous roofs of the nave & choir are visible high up on the exterior of the gables. The tower was converted as a doocot & the date 1716 presumably records this. The main entrance is in the base of the tower, which is now surrounded by a small area of public parkland quite close to the centre of town.
The random rubble, red sandstone tower contains a single chamber. There are two slated, single-pitch roofs on the south side, one halfway up at a point where the tower narrows, the other set deeply between the gables. A row of 4 flight holes is sited below the eaves of the upper roof, with a ledge below & remains of a wire mechanism to control shutters in front of the holes. Formerly a further row of holes was sited half way up the lower roof.
The main doorway is at the tower base, and above it are 2 air vents accessing the substantial lower & the smaller upper tower, their size in proportion to the areas of pigeon accommodation they ventilate. Most of the 270 irregularly placed stone nest boxes set into the walls of the single chamber at both levels survive, And allegedly there was once a potence in the upper part.
The tower is in good repair & houses pigeons.
Leaving town & back up into the hills once more & homeward bound, skirting around Doon Hill riding along in a yellow sea of gorse bushes & fields of oil seed rape in dire need of some cool refreshments & some food to throw down my throat, I was fair keen to get back home it had been a long hot day !
So that was "Part 1" of the doocot ride & "Part 2" I rode the next day it will follow shortly in blog form.
After putting in a good few miles today on my Kona which I felt was strange to ride with it's narrow bars & 26" wheels ! Normally my 'go to' bikes are the Scott & Rocky Mountain, both wide bars & 27.5" wheels which says it all really if they are both my go to bikes why am I keeping hold of the Kona & the Giant which I use for long distance routes & camping expeditions ? So later on in the year I think I'll put them up for sale & replace them with another mountain bike of some sorts suitable for touring long distance routes.
Any way I hoped you enjoyed the ride around some of the local doocots, stay tuned for...
..."The Day Of The Doocot - (Part 2)"
which will be posted shortly, thanks for viewing.
Ever since I was a bairn of primary school age I had an early appreciation & love for pigeon doocots, the craftsmanship in their construction really captured me, but not until later in life did I understand their purpose.
As a youngster I had a friend who's parents owned the Bourhouse mansion house & surrounding lands of which there is a doocot on the grounds, my friend & I used muck about inside the doocot climbing up the stone nesting boxes as high as we could trying to catch pigeons, gathering their eggs to throw at one another & using the doocot like an obstacle coarse trying to scale around all four walls without falling or touching the ground which was thick with dried pigeon poo !
So the idea of this blog & more to follow is to share with you these amazingly crafted & useful buildings of the wealthy estate days here around East Lothian. The first blog covers the doocots of 'Nunraw', 'Papple', 'Ruchlaw', 'Drylawhill', 'Phantassie' & finally 'Friarscroft'.
To understand the purpose of doocots, they were man-made shelters for domesticated doves/pigeons farmed primarily for their flesh & are among the oldest agricultural buildings in Scotland. For several centuries in Scotland the young birds were eaten as a delicacy & early household diaries record their arrival in the larder while cookbooks contain recipes for pies, roasts & stews. A by-product was the accumulated dung, a valuable source of nutrients before the introduction of chemical fertilisers, the gathered dung was also used in tanning leather.
Doocots were prestigious buildings, their erection generally the preserve of wealthy families & institutions.
The mid morning sun was blazing & the sky was blue, it was a cracking day & probably the hottest day of the year so far.
And an old run down sheepfold with a ewe & her lamb.
It's hard to make out with the haze in the distance & the camera never really captured the brilliant views from here.
White Castle iron age hill fort in the above bottom three pictures, not much left to see other than the earth works where the ramparts once were, I wonder how the lay of the land has changed since the fort was occupied if it's changed much at all.
The Tower with 24 bedrooms & 138 acres of land has recently been put up for sale & as the monks carry out a downsizing project for a mere £2m & I think at that price is just a token gesture of it's worth especially when you see the ridiculous prices of the quick erect horrible houses that are being thrown up in my local town of Dunbar.
I think the Tower has now been sold as when I was passing by en route to the doocot which is located a stones throw from the Tower there were dozens of work vans & workers everywhere & when I arrived they were all sitting about their vans having their dinner. It was clear to see that a massive renovation project was going on.
And just my luck it was bad timing as the doocot was also being restored & covered in scaffolding ! All for the greater good though, I hate to see the doocots I'm familiar with deteriorating to a point where they are dangerous & beyond repair, I personally think they should all be restored as national treasures of our history, culture & heritage before it's too late as it already has been for many which have been destroyed. I 'borrowed' the bottom two pictures from Google to show you what the doocot looks like without a scaffold surrounding it.
And the history of Nunraw doocot:-
Nunraw lands were granted to Cistercian nuns by MalcolmIV. The last three prioresses were Hepburns, and that family built a Z-plan tower in the late 16th century which was incorporated into a baronial mansion for the Hay family in the 1860's. The Cistercian order returned to Nunraw in 1946, this time the incumbents being monks.
The beehive style doocot was probably contemporaneous with the 16th century tower, and lies about 50m from the front of the 19th century mansion. It rises in four stages, the lower two of random rubble, the upper two of dressed stone, with the fourth set back. On top is a tall, relatively modern, hexagonal stone cupola looking, to some observers, more like a belfry than a glover.
The door, with a relieving arch, is on the south-east side, and there is one window. The second of the four stringcourses is interrupted on the south-west side by a wide alighting ledge, above which is a row of 24 flight holes. The floor is sunken, and the full complement of about 450 stone nest boxes is said to be intact. The unusual tapering shape and the change in masonry suggest that the upper part may have been re-built at some point. Apart from a little vegetation on the walls the doocot is in good repair.
As I rode through under the shade of the mature trees the countryside smells changed, here the strong onion smell of the wild garlic emitting from the woodland floor was really potent.
At one time the Ruchlaw lands belonged to the Earls of Dunbar. Archibald Sydserf, of a Norman familywhich had been in East Lothian since the 12th century, erectedan L-plan house in the early 17th century. This has since been extended in several stages, remaining in the family until 1950.
The large 17th century double lectern doocot is beside cottages, 250m from the mansion. It is built of random rubble, is substantially harled, buttressed to the west, and supports a low lean-to building on the north side. There are two stringcourses; the second is high up on the rear wall, returning briefly along the gables. The slated roof faces south & is interrupted by a horizontal row of 20 flight holes. There is no rear parapit, and the plain skewtabled gables run down with only one step. The partition wall does not break the roof. There is a modern rhone & down-pipe.
Ea ch chamber has a doorway in the front wall, an opening above, and a smaller opening approaching the eaves, all four openings have modern wooden louvres. There are variously reported to have been between 1300 & 1400 nest boxes starting abut 1m above floor level. As the doocot appears from the outside to be in a good state of repair these are possibly largely intact. There are however no pigeons.
The 16th century doocot pre-dates the 18th century improvement farm on which it stands, perhaps being contemporary with the earlier mansion, some way off, which has now disappeared. It is of generously pointed random rubble sandstone with 2 stringcourses, and stands on a rock outcrop in a paddock about 60m from the present farmhouse. The slated conical roof is perhaps a replacement for a shallower stone slab room more typical of this type of doocot.
The three features of the south side, the iron-clad door, a row of 14 flight holes below the eaves, and a swept wooden dormer with 4 flight holes and landing ledge are not prfectly aligned with one another.
Most of the 600 stone nest boxes, starting 1.1m above ground level, have survived although some have been re-built in brick.
Despite a little encroachment of grass and other weeds, the doocot seems from the outside to be in quite good condition & it is still used by pigeons.
The prosperous farm of Phantassie was occupied by the Rennie family. John Rennie, the civil engineer, was born there in1761. His brother George was a leading agricultural improver and extended the 18th century farmhouse into a small mansion in 1820.
The 16th century doocot, an adjunct of an earlier estate, is in a field about 100m north of the farm outbuildings, and is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. It's French influenced design is unusual for Scotland, taking the form of a beehive but with the top section cut away at an angle to give a steeply sloping one-way, south-facing roof enclosed by a horseshoe shaped parapet. It was restored about 1975.
There are three stringcourses. Since an earlier restoration of the early 1960's, characterless harling has covered the random rubble walls.There are 16 flight holes in a row immediately below the eaves & above the top stringcourse, and a further 4 in a swept dormer near the roof apex with a wooden landing ledge below.
There is a door on the west side. The floor is sunk, and the rows of about 550 stone nest boxes of varying sizes start over 1.5m above it. The potence, as restored, does not revolve but supports a wide central fixed ladder The doocot is in very good condition and is used by pigeons.
A Trinitarian priory was founded in the 13th century by the Countess of Dunbar. The members of the order, the Red Friars, moved to Peebles in 1529, 30 years or so before the Reformation in Scotland. All that survives of the building is the tower, formaly between the nave & choir, with the connecting arches on either side of it filled in, though traces of skews of the previous roofs of the nave & choir are visible high up on the exterior of the gables. The tower was converted as a doocot & the date 1716 presumably records this. The main entrance is in the base of the tower, which is now surrounded by a small area of public parkland quite close to the centre of town.
The random rubble, red sandstone tower contains a single chamber. There are two slated, single-pitch roofs on the south side, one halfway up at a point where the tower narrows, the other set deeply between the gables. A row of 4 flight holes is sited below the eaves of the upper roof, with a ledge below & remains of a wire mechanism to control shutters in front of the holes. Formerly a further row of holes was sited half way up the lower roof.
The main doorway is at the tower base, and above it are 2 air vents accessing the substantial lower & the smaller upper tower, their size in proportion to the areas of pigeon accommodation they ventilate. Most of the 270 irregularly placed stone nest boxes set into the walls of the single chamber at both levels survive, And allegedly there was once a potence in the upper part.
The tower is in good repair & houses pigeons.
So that was "Part 1" of the doocot ride & "Part 2" I rode the next day it will follow shortly in blog form.
After putting in a good few miles today on my Kona which I felt was strange to ride with it's narrow bars & 26" wheels ! Normally my 'go to' bikes are the Scott & Rocky Mountain, both wide bars & 27.5" wheels which says it all really if they are both my go to bikes why am I keeping hold of the Kona & the Giant which I use for long distance routes & camping expeditions ? So later on in the year I think I'll put them up for sale & replace them with another mountain bike of some sorts suitable for touring long distance routes.
Any way I hoped you enjoyed the ride around some of the local doocots, stay tuned for...
..."The Day Of The Doocot - (Part 2)"
which will be posted shortly, thanks for viewing.
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