Description

The monument comprises the remains of a dovecot associated with Gight Castle. The dovecot stands in woodland on the north edge of the Ythan Gorge, 200m WSW of Gight Castle. Only the NE wall and parts of the adjacent walls are still standing.

It was a rectangular building, measuring some 5.4m NW-SE by a maximum of 4.5m NE-SW, with a single-pitched roof sloping down to the SW. It is rubble built, with red sandstone used for the nesting boxes and for the dressings of a small rectangular window surviving in the NE wall. A rat course runs around the outside face of the surviving walls. Internally it appears to have been divided into two compartments.

The area to be scheduled includes the monument as described above and an area around it in which remains associated with the dovecot are likely to be found, measuring 13.5m WNW-ESE by 12.5m, as marked in red on the accompanying map extract.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is an example of a well-known type of late medieval dovecot and because it represents an outlying building associated with Gight Castle, which is also a scheduled monument. Its remains have the potential, through further investigation, to shed further light on the economy and material culture of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NJ 83 NW 4.01.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland