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Admire this spectacular and very complete example of a dovecot.

It was built to house hundreds of pairs of pigeons destined for the table of the laird of the Westquarter Estate. The estate and its mansion house are long gone, but the dovecot remains as a feature in the modern housing estate.

A panel above the dovecot’s door shows the arms of Sir William and his wife Dame Helenore Livingstone and the date 1647. They built a new mansion house nearby, but probably not this dovecot. The style and details of the dovecot suggest it was built sometime in the 1700s re-using William and Helenore’s heraldic panel.

Close-up of the lower façade of the dovecot, showing the green wooden door with metal latch and the carved heraldic panel above it set into the stone wall.
Interpretation sign at Westquarter Dovecot explaining some history of the site.

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