Dovecote and attached stable to rear (east) of 10 Northgate

This is a mid-18th century dovecote with an attached stable to the rear (east) of 10 Northgate. It is a building of group value, contributing to the character of the area.

The dovecote and stable are primarily constructed of earth-mortared chalk, rising from a limestone plinth. Some sections have been partly rebuilt with thin, red 18th century brickwork, with later blockings in poorer quality 19th century brickwork. The stable has a pantile roof, while the dovecote was roofless at the time of survey.

The dovecote is a simple, two-storey rectangular cell. The stable is a single, undivided loose-box, with a small lean-to projecting from the west gable, all accessed from the north.

The dovecote is a vernacular structure. The eroded gable tops suggest a steeply pitched roof. A simple, timber-lined doorway is located through the north wall, close to the west gable. A blocked cart entrance is set in the south wall, next to the east gable. High in each gable is a window with a projecting sill and an internal splay, originally with timber lintels and vertical bars; these windows have been blocked with 19th century brickwork and the bars removed.

Inside the dovecote, nest boxes are built into both the north and south walls. These feature fairly regular rows of roughly square openings set directly above continuous string courses, forming alighting ledges. The nest boxes are L-shaped internally. The lowest rows of boxes are about 1 meter above the original floor. Around 100 nest boxes remain on the north wall, constructed from chalk blocks, while the south wall has around 100 (some lost due to the cart entrance) more regularly built from brickwork, slightly more closely spaced and incorporating chalk ledges. The west gable is plain without nest boxes, while the east gable, largely rebuilt in chalk from an 18th century brick plinth, only retains nest boxes to either side of the rebuilding – chalk-built to the north and irregular brick-built ones with chalk ledges to the south. Only two tie beams remain of the original roof structure.

The stable abuts the west gable of the dovecote and is also built of chalk blocks on a limestone plinth. The ridgeline of its steeply-pitched roof sits just below the gable window of the dovecote. The stable has 18th century brick repairs to the corner and around the timber doorway. The roof structure inside is a modern replacement, but the stable retains a couple of built-in storage alcoves, two metal hay feeders and a water/feed trough.

The lean-to, projecting from the west gable of the stable, is irregularly built of chalk and brick with a low-pitched pantile roof.