A dovecote or dovecot is a building intended to house pigeons or doves, which were an important food source in history. In some cultures, particularly Medieval Europe, the possession of a dovecote was a symbol of status and power and was consequently regulated by law. Only nobles had this special privilege known as droit de colombier.

That’s from Wikipedia.

This is the dovecote in the Flemish town of Assebroek, Bruges – which I visited last Sunday.

It’s a fifteenth century construction following the fashion of the time: a polygon shape (an octagon) with 696 L-shaped niches on the inside and two entrance and exit holes.

On the inside, a narrow staircase or a ladder made it possible for manservants to scoop out the chicks and have them prepared – in the kitchen.

More recent dovecotes (used for for pigeon sports) are constructed reversely; the homing pigeons don’t need to be cooked, but have to be able to fly out and race – so they have a lot of holes in the walls.

It’s a pretty unusual building to look at, and this one near Bruges is a national landmark. Other dovecotes of note are in Scotland and Normandy, France, where they date back to the 1200s.