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Summary

Small octagonal brick building with stone dressings with the remains of a doorway in the east side and windows to north and south and blind windows in the other five sides. Roofless and ruinous in 2003, it was thought to be a gazebo or summer house. However, a description of 1967 stating that it had a single tier of nest holes and the remains of slate alighting ledges indicates that it was a dovecote. Its roof was conical and slated.

Location

Protected Status

• Registered Park or Garden (II) 1001661: KING'S NYMPTON PARK

Other References/Statuses

• Old DCC SMR Ref: SS61NE/11
• Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division: SS61NE8

Monument Type(s) and Dates

• DOVECOTE (Built, XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)
• GAZEBO (Built, XVIII - 1701 AD to 1800 AD)

Full description

Ordnance Survey, 1880-1899, First Edition Ordnance 25 inch map (Cartographic). SDV336179.

Small circular building marked.

Copeland, G. W., 1967, More about Devon Dovecotes, 269-70, Pl. 1 (Article in Serial). SDV4580.

The dovecote stands on a low mound not far north-east of the house. It appears to be of same period as the mansion, circa 1747. It is octagonal, of red brick with freestone dressings. The walls are of normal thickness and each side of the octagonal is about 5ft 8in wide internally. It has two large round-headed windows to the ground floor and a round- headed doorway of the same width. There are blind windows in the other five sides. Not far below the wall-head, inside and out, is a single tier of nest-holes, two only to each side, with the remains of slate alighting-ledges, 16 altogether. The much- damaged roof is conical and slated. The owner proposes to restore it.

Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division, 1978, SS61NE8 (Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Card). SDV92248.

The dovecote stands on a low mound to the north-east of the house and appears to be of the same date, circa 1747. It is octagonal, of red brick, with freestone dressings. The walls are of normal thickness and each side of the octagonal is circa 5 feet 8 inches wide internally.
It has two peculiarities: two large round-headed windows to the ground floor and a round-headed doorway of the same width, and the remarkable small number of nest holes.
The owner intends to restore and preserve the building if feasible (from GW Copeland).

Child, P., 1999, Countryside Stewardship Application. Kingsnympton (Correspondence). SDV78960.

Small octagonal brick building with stone dressings situated immediately to the east of the eastern farmyard. The building shows no evidence of having been a dovecote and may have been an ornamental garden structure. It is probably, like the house, of 18th century date. The structure is now roofless and has quite possibly lost a considerable part of its upper storey, the brickwork in the surviving section is also much decayed in its upper parts.

Keystone Historic Buildings Consultants, Nov 2003, Home Farm, Kingsnympton Park, Kings Nympton, Devon, 34 (Report - Survey). SDV354971.

18th century gazebo or summerhouse in the north-west corner of the field to the east of the east yard, referred to in the Tithe Apportinment as the drying yard. It is a small octagonal building built of brick with minimal limestone dressings with the remains of a doorway through the east side and windows to north and south. It is now roofless and ruinous. There is no evidence for an upper storey as the walls do not rise high enough.

Sources / Further Reading

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds: none recorded

Associated Events

• EDV6328 - Historic Building Assessment of Home Farm, Kings Nympton

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