Melville Doocot
Monimail, Fife
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Location Guide |
This doocot was originally built as a windmill sometime
during the 1700's. It stands on a mound which contains a vaulted storage
chamber. The walls were battered (wider at the bottom) to help offset the
weight of the sails. These would have been fixed into a wooden top structure
which could be rotated to angle the sails to the wind.
At some point it was converted to a doocot, by cutting off
the top and adapting the design to be able to take a single-pitched roof.
All the windows were blocked up, except one which was left for the pigeons
to fly in and out.
Photo by
Jim Bain
Inside the walls were lined with stone nesting-boxes. During
restoration in the 1970's some missing stone boxes were replaced with
concrete replicas. In the centre is a wooden structure called a 'potence',
which is a ladder attached to a central rotating wooden pillar, this allowed
access to the nesting boxes, and could be moved by the person on the ladder
kicking against the wall.
The windmill, and later the doocot, were part of the estate
surrounding Melville House, the home of the Earls of Leven and Melville.
To see inside the key is available at Windmill
Cottage, see the contact information page on their website for contact
information.
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