(Described in the Appreciation as "Old Dovecote")
(Grade II listed in 1956 as "Pigeon House", and now listed Grade II*)
(Grade II listed in 1956 as "Pigeon House", and now listed Grade II*)
According to the Appreciation, its date of construction is "uncertain. Probably Medieval origin much altered seventeenth and eighteenth century". The Appreciation was right to use that word "uncertain" ~ the Dovecote does not appear on the 1814 survey, yet there is a building called "Dove House" at this location on the 1758 Estate map, and the crosds on the top of the little picture on the map hints at a link with the long-gone Abbey. The listings register plays it cautiously by describing it as 15th century with 18th century alteration. Altered or not, there is, according to Joanna Martin in "Wives and Daughters" (Hambledon & London, 2004), evidence for something being here 250 years ago ~ "There was a pigeon-house at Abbotsbury: this was leased to Corbet Pitman in the mid eighteenth century, and his rent included twenty-five dozen (300) pigeons a year. In 1748-49 Susanna Strangways Horner bought an additional 236 pigeons from Pitman at 4s 6d a dozen." There are still Pitmans in Abbotsbury.
According to the 2003 Conservation Plan, the fact that it does not feature on the 1598 and 1650 surveys of tenant holdings could mean that it was held in-house by the Estate ~ the authors agree with the Appreciation that it may be mediaeval in origin, but renovated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Only the dormers and the rooftop lanterns are more modern. The building is in poor condition, thanks largely to what the doves have left in it over the centuries.
It has also had a varied history: in 1989 it might have formed part of the "Kingdom of the Horse" centre when it was planned to move from its Lodmoor site in Weymouth, but English Heritage opposed the proposal. At the moment, it forms a potential grandstand for the goat races at the Children's Farm based at the Tithe Barn.