Late C17 octagonal, timber framed and black weatherboarded dovecote, on red brick plinth, with grey slate roof. <1>.
The monument includes a C17 dovecote situated in a garden to the SW of the house at Olivers, on the N side of the Roman River valley. The mansion house at Olivers dates back to the C15 and would have originally have been surrounded by woodland, some of which still survives (principally Walk Wood). The dovecote, which is Listed Grade II, is octagonal, having a foundation and lower courses of red brick with weatherboarding above. The dovecote has two stories: the lower part has a brick floor anmd internal brick wall, ventilated by two small gratings in the walls. A large original oak cross beam supports the floor boards of the upper level, the undersides of which were originally plastered and some small areas of plaster remain. The upper part has a boarded floor, some 2.2m above ground level and is accessed via an external ladder. Unlike the lower level, the walls of the upper level do not have an inner skin of brick but are of wattle (hazel) and daub construction set within an oak frame. The roof is slate tiled surmounted by a timber cupola or lantern (a replacement dating from the 1940s) with entry holes on every side. Internally the upper level originally contained some 112 nesting boxes, about half of which still remain. The nest boxes are of particular interest, being constructed of clay bats around a wooden frame of oak; they vary in size slightly, but an average size is approximately 0.28m by 0.42m. The roof retains original features: the original oak rafters are in situ, reinforced by modern timbers; the louver, pipe and alighting beam are of original oak timbers. Documentary sources state that the dovecote was in use during the course of WWI until wartime restrictions made it impossible to feed the doves. It was subsequently used as a fruit store and animal shelter. <2> Photographs from site visit on 11/3/99. <3>