13024

 

II*  

Designated  

23/01/1976  

25/01/1995  

The Pigeon House and railings at Cilwendeg Farm  

 

Pembrokeshire  

Boncath  

 

Capel Colman  

222225  

238823  

 

Situated at rear NE end of farm complex, below barn.  

Agriculture and Subsistence  

 

1835 pigeon and poultry house built for Morgan Jones 2 of Cilwendeg to a degree of elaboration unparallelled in Wales, said to have been built for ducks and geese on the ground floor wings, turkeys in centre, dogs between, hens first floor and pigeons on upper shelves.  

1835 pigeon and poultry house in rubble stone with slate dressings and slate roofs. Ten bays with three-storey centre, lofted wings and two-storey end pavilions, the roofs behind parapets. Centre and pavilions have similar ground and first floors with pair of arched openings each floor, cut Cilgerran stone arches and rubble tympana disguising floor levels, slate sills. First floor windows have all lost original infill or glazing, ground floor left pavilion has blocked door and door, centre has door and blocked door, right pavilion has door and blocked door. Pavilions have high parapets striated with triple slate shelves, the centre shelf interrupted for roundel with cut voussoirs, top slate moulded coping. Centre has five tiers of similar slate shelves, four broken for two third-floor arched windows, then moulded cornice, parapet with centre roundel, slate coping each side carrying square angle pedestals in cut stone and shallow-curved centrepiece with moulded coping, pedestal with inset plaque `Built AD 1835', moulded cap and iron urn finial. Slate tiers are continued along side walls. Low linking wings have two similar ground floor arches, and sill course under two lunette openings, two slate shelves above and parapet coping. End walls have first floor windows. Plain rear with slate pedimental courses to each gable. First floor windows to pavilions, long first floor window to centre block and blank upper window. Wings have blank ground floor windows and square loft windows under eaves. All other openings have cambered heads and stone voussoirs. Front yard is enclosed by remains of a remarkable enclosure, low rubble front wall with tall rubble pyramid capped piers with slate urn finials between six bays of tall railings, the standards, top and bottom rails made of slate. Only two sections survive (1994) upstanding. Wooden gate with similar slate rails over at left. Rails are set on rubble stone terrace. Short return walls with two bays of rails, surviving on N end return only.  

Generally each room has two tiers of large square nesting boxes, slate-lined with slate front step, one row at ground level and another some 1m up, and there are no nesting boxes on the front wall. Pavilions have slate floors and similar first floor arrangement, but with also a slate shelf at c 1.5m. Left connecting wing had no boxes to ground floor but some at first floor and door into left pavilion. Floor removed. Right connecting wing inaccessible. Centre had larger nesting boxes in ground floor, in two tiers, two tiers of boxes and slate shelf at first floor and five slate shelves at second floor, all floors removed.