Building record 1047/1/2 - Dovecote And Pigstys 270M South East Of Jodrell Bank Farm

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 406848 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

A late Seventeenth Century dovecote. It’s built of red brick in English garden wall bond with stone slate roof. The basement was a pig sty and the pens (low brick walls, with semicircular stone copings) still front the south and east sides of the building.

The approach to the lower level of dovecote is along the top of a wall separating the pig pens to a heavy dowelled ogee moulded frame with replaced boarded door. The entrance to the upper chamber stands on the first floor band, this is a ledged and battened door in a chamfered frame with rectangular overlight. There are blocked openings, under the eaves, in the north and south faces. The pyramid roof is raised at the centre on short posts, this terminates in a weather vane.

Interior: Lower floor concrete over beams and joists. Oak beam, joisted and boarded floor to room above. The main beam centre support is a reused Limber framed partition. On the upper floor a pivoting central shaft has side arms which support a Jacob's Ladder. This permits access to the nest holes in the four walls.

<2> Oxford Archaeology, 1995, Monuments Protection Programme Step 3 Report Site Evaluations for Dovecotes (Unpublished Report). SCH3772.

An early and relatively complete example of a combined pigsty and dovecote. Red brick, 3 storeyed building with dovecote on top of 2 floors. Pyramid roof with weather vane. Basement is a pigsty. Entry to the lower level of the dovecote via a flight of steps so no need to enter the pigsty below. Access to upper chamber via door high up in the wall which needs a ladder to reach it. Lower floor of dovecote has no nest boxes left. Upper floor has brick nest boxes lining walls. Revolving potence still exists, an unusual addition in a squared dovecote. Recommended for scheduling.

<3> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 30382 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The monument includes a late 17th century brick-built dovecote in the grounds of Terra Nova School. The building, which is listed Grade II, has three floors and incorporates a set of pigstys on the ground floor, a vegetable store on the first floor and a square dovecote above it. The building is about 6m square in plan, of English garden wall bonded brick, with a pyramidal slate roof. At the centre of the roof is a raised light built of timber. The ground floor contains four pigstys with doorways opening into a small brick-walled enclosure. Access to the pigstys is through a door in the west wall. Above this is a store with a low ceiling and concrete floor. This is reached by a doorway on the south side of the building and an external flight of stone and concrete steps. There was a window in the west wall on this floor which has been bricked up. The top floor is a dovecote with nestboxes for about 400 pairs. In the middle of the room a revolving ladder, a potence, is still in place. The doorway for this floor is on the east side and only accessible by a ladder which was kept hung on the wall of the pigstys outside. Butted onto the dovecote on the north side is a lean-to brick shed with two further pigstys which projects east from the dovecote block. This building is not included in the scheduling. The brick-built enclosure for the pigs on the south and east sides of the building is included in the scheduling.

<4> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 406/2 c.1839 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.

The building is clearly depcited on this map, with attached pens to the south-west and south-east.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1871-1882, Ordnance Survey County Series (Epoch 1) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7970, 1874 (Maps and Plans). SCH2462.

The building is more rectangular in shape than on the tithe map (see 4), suggesting an extension on the north-eastern side.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ7970, 1898 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

This map depicts addittional buildings and structures attached to the south-eastern side.