samedi 7 mai 2016

A pigeon’s home is its castle

Around here more than 1700 dovecotes have been built, like this one among three situated close to the village of Soual. 
 
And this with half-timbering in the nearby village of Lescout, dated 13th and 14th centuries.

 A great variety of those dovecotes can be found along countryside roads. 
 
They offer very nice architecture particularities. Around the city of Castres, they have on the roof a small tower comparable to the local bell tower, hence named le clocheton. 
 
When built on stilts, they have a specific stone called capel (hat in Occitan), in order to prevent predators like cats, rats… killing the off-springs.

 
Before French Revolution, only Noble families could have a dovecote (pigeonnier or colombier in French). This was the first privilege to be abolished during the French Revolution on the famous night of 4 August 1789, as indicated in the article 2 of the Decret published on 11 August:
 
 
However, in our region, this privilege was not so strict, which explains why so many dovecotes still exist.

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