General view of dovecot at Newhailes House.

Description General view of dovecot at Newhailes House.

Date 1/7/1959

Collection Records of the Scottish National Buildings Record, Edinburgh, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 759718

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of ML 1916/16

Scope and Content Dovecot, Newhailes, Musselburgh, East Lothian This shows the early/mid-18th-century, sandstone rubble-built rectangular, or lectern-style, dovecot which had three circular pigeon flight-holes on the upper level. The wooden gabled dormer with pigeon flight-holes was lost when the roof collapsed in the late 20th century. Dovecots were a common building on country estates because pigeons were bred to be used. The birds were a source of food, their feathers used to stuff pillows and their guano (droppings) used as fertiliser. Pigeons were also released in bulk as targets during shooting parties. James Smith (c.1645-1731) architect, designed and built Newhailes House (originally known as Whitehill) in 1686. Sir David Dalrymple (c.1665-1721) bought the estate in 1709 and started the construction of the library wing in 1718 which was completed after his death in 1721 by his son, Sir James Dalrymple (1692-1751). The house was modernised in 1871-3 when Lord Shand was tenant, and has remained largely unchanged since. The National Trust for Scotland became the owners of Newhailes House in January 1997. The house opened to the public on 1 June 2002 after a £12.7 million conservation project that ensured the house was stabilised without losing the patination of the interior decoration. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference NBR 201

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/759718

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap