Never Mind The Dovecotes

When the speaker did not show at our June meeting, we had what turned out to be an impromptu history discussion among all present. It was one of those evenings you could not plan. As you know, the best impromptu talks take two weeks to plan. It was good to share our diverse taste in history. Our group discussion began with Copped Hall’s archaeological excavations and ended, I believe, with Michael Portillo and the cow that urinated on his shoes at the Padfield’s during the filming of ‘Great British Railway Journeys’

Conversation moved from the Battle of Waterloo and the Duke of Wellington, to Winston Churchill. On the way ‘Never Mind the Dovecotes’ was mentioned, being the National Trust album of Punk Rock tunes.

Dovecotes were used as a source of food – meat and eggs – as well as dung. A number of examples remain in Essex. The one at High House, Purfleet, dating from the late seventeenth century retains its nest boxes as well as the revolving ladder called a portence.
Donald Smith photographed and drew a number of Essex dove houses for his book 'Pigeon Cotes and Dove Houses of Essex', published in 1931. The original photographs are in storage at Colchester Museum.