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 13^th and 14^th 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.