CUMBERNAULD DOVECOTE

Near the East gate to the park of Cumbernauld house, there is the site of a stone walled fruit and vegetable garden placed, in Scottish style, a long way from the house. The walls have since been pulled down and the site landscaped, so there is little left of the garden today.

In the South East corner of the old garden area is a traditional style dovecote (pronounced 'doocot') taking the form of a tall stone built round tower, with a conical roof of the pepper pot type, so common in Scottish vernacular architecture of the 16th century and later. The ground floor, used for storage, was entered by a separate door and had no communication with the main floor which had its own entrance direct from the garden. From here up, the whole interior is covered with nesting boxes, tier upon tier, where the Doo's (Pigeons) roosted and had their nests. Entry was achieved via a number of orifices reached from a landing ledge around the perimeter of the tower at eaves level.

A few years ago, the dovecote was vandalised, the first floor of timber was burned and a large part of the roof destroyed. The CDC restored the tower by replacing the roof exactly as before, cleaned and pointed the masonry and took down the remaining garden walling which had become dangerous. The doors and windows were fitted with stout, wrought iron grilles to forbid unauthorised entry. This exercise revealed a masonry change at two thirds of the building's height. The lower stone work being of random rubble, the upper of coursed rubble, indicating two building periods. This suggests that the Dovecote was originally a 16th century erection, repaired and added to when Cumbernauld house was built, 1731.

Dovecotes of this were common all over Scotland from the medieval period, every Laird of note possessing one. The birds were subject to feudal rights, only landowners could keep them and kill them when required. Tenants could only do so under license from the feudal superior. The birds and their eggs were an important food item, highly prized as delicacies, and were particularly useful in time of trouble, when other food sources might be threatened.