It has had many different uses in its time
High House Dovecote(Image: Google Maps)
Essex is a county full of immense history. Whether that’s the good, the bad or the ugly, our county has pretty much seen it all and has had some rather significant history in its time.
Sadly, some history has been lost to time, while others are slowly crumbling and decaying and without intervention, could be at risk of being lost for good. Historic England releases buildings and areas deemed as ‘Heritage at Risk’.
The process identifies sites that are most at risk of being lost as a result of neglect, decay or inappropriate development. Every year Historic England updates the Heritage at Risk Register. The end result is a dynamic picture of the sites most at risk and most in need of safeguarding for the future.
One new listing is Dovecote which can be found in the grounds of High House in Purfleet, Thurrock. It has been argued that this little building is one of the best known examples of a dove house, or dovecote.
A dovecote is a building, often a tower, small house or raised box which was designed for a specialized structure—often a tower, small house, or raised box—designed for breeding and housing doves or pigeons. Historically, these served as crucial “living larders” for medieval European and Middle Eastern estates, providing a consistent source of food, eggs, and fertilizer. Today, however, they are often seen as ornamental heritage structures.
Often the rich and powerful families had dovecotes and simply by having one showed a family’s high status through the ages. In this particular Dovecote, there are 517 nest boxes with an internal ladder which was the original one built, which moves around the interior wall so that all the boxes can be reached.
The dovecote had a steel door as well as a wooden door as to keep out thefts and poachers who would have put a great value on the meat and eggs. Because of this security, the dovecote was also used as a village lock-up or local jail for keeping those in the area who committed petty theft and other minor crimes.
The scheduled monument has been deemed to be in ‘poor’ condition and declining. While it is decaying slowly, no solution has yet been agreed to stop further decay.
