Dovecot, Sandyhill Road, Banff

This circa 1800 hexagonal dovecote is situated on a hilltop overlooking the Deveron valley and Duff House, originally intended as a landscape folly. The dovecote is constructed of harl-pointed rubble with a crenellated wallhead made of tooled ashlar. A tall, round-headed blind arcade is located on the north side, with a square-headed doorway providing access. A pulvinated cornice runs immediately below the wallhead, from which single ashlar weeper drainage spouts project, draining a flat stone slab roof that is largely concealed behind the crenellation. Two rectangular openings serve as flight holes, originally fronted by alighting ledges supported by iron brackets, some of which remain.

Inside, each interior wall is lined with approximately 490 nesting boxes with slate transoms. An unusual central column houses six vertical rows of nesting boxes, mirroring the interior wall construction and providing an additional 96 nesting spaces. This column also provides structural support for the stone slab roof. The dovecote was formerly situated in a field, now largely surrounded by modern residential development. It appears on John Clerk’s 1826 topographical print of Banff.