Showing posts with label 16th Century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 16th Century. Show all posts

Tuesday 14 September 2021

Skulferatu #43 - Rosyth Doocot, Rosyth, Fife

 

Walking away from Rosyth Castle, across an abandoned rail track and up a wooded hill, I came across Rosyth Doocot almost hidden amongst the trees.

 

Rosyth Doocot, hidden amongst the trees - photo shows the roof of an old, stone building sticking up from amongst a copse of trees.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Rosyth Doocot, hidden amongst the trees

 

A photo of Rosyth Doocot - a large stone building standing amongst the trees.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Rosyth Doocot

 

The Doocot is from the Sixteenth Century and has over one thousand five hundred stone nesting boxes inside for pigeons.  It must have been a pretty smelly place in its day, but the pigeons were a year round source of meat and eggs for the local community.

 

The Doocot is now empty except for some discarded beer cans and a couple of chairs sitting inside.  The chairs give it a slightly surrealist feeling and I half expected a couple of actors to appear from the side shadows and perform ‘Waiting for Godot’ or something of that ilk.

 

Photo of the interior of the Doocot with over one thousand five hundred stone nesting boxes inside for pigeons.  Two blue chairs sit inside the doocot facing out towards the entrance door.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Interior of the Doocot

 

On the lintel above the door are the remains of a carving of a serpent.  This represents the old biblical saying of – ‘Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves.’

 

Entrance to Doocot, with remains of carved serpent on lintel above the door, which is a symbol for the Biblical saying - Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Entrance to Doocot, with remains of carved serpent on lintel above the door

 

View of Dovecot and Details from 'The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, Volume One'  by David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross.  Published 1887
View of Dovecot and Details from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland

 

I left a Skulferatu in the wall of the Doocot.

 

A photo of Skulferatu #43 being held up in someone's hand  and in the background are trees and the stone building Rosyth Doocot. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #43

 

Skulferatu #43 in hole in wall at Rosyth Doocot. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #43 in hole in wall at Rosyth Doocot

 

Google Map showing location of Skulferatu #43
Map showing location of Skulferatu #43

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.024808

Longitude -3.429101

 

I used the following sources for information on Rosyth Doocot –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, Volume One

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Tourist Information at site