Prochain point : lat="49.017136" lon="1.946841"
The farm and the dovecote
An old seigneurial farm
Often-modified buildings...
The buildings of this old farm date back to the seventeenth century. Sometime around 1750, the cadastral survey shows two long buildings running parallel to the Rue de Chollet, on either side of a vast courtyard. Access was via a carriage gate and a riders' gate at the end of a long alley lined with walnut trees, leading from the Bouquet Cross. Arranged around the courtyard were a dovecote that could be accessed on foot and several buildings used as dwellings by the farmers, as well as stables, cowsheds, a sheepfold and sheds. Nearby, a manor, in poor condition at the time, enclosed the courtyard on the south side. Today, all that remains is the dovecote and a very long building. The old seigniory was divided up in the early 1980s.
...and a dovecote accessible on foot
This dovecote consisting of a lower portion in bare gritstone and plastered upper levels was built sometime around 1630. Circular in shape and with a pepperbox roof, it is simply decorated with a hood mould (an external moulded projection) and a cornice in cut stone. It has a window overlooking the courtyard and a hipped dormer from which the pigeons could take wing. It is divided into two parts: the room on the lower floor was used as a store room while the upper floor was reserved for the pigeons and their plaster nests (called 'boulins' in French). Until 1790, owning a dovecote was a privilege reserved for seigneurial lords. The pigeons were raised for their meat and above all for their droppings, which were used as fertiliser for the crops. Today, thirty or so dovecotes still remain in the French Vexin region.
