Pigeon Houses of France
Techbee, one of my fine readers here, tipped me off to an interesting type of building that’s common in the Lot and Querey regions of southwest France, between Bordeaux and Toulouse. Pigeon Houses are generally from the 19th century and farmers built them as a means to harvest valuable pigeon guano for use on their crops.
The birds would nest and roost in the specially-made pigeon holes that ring the inside of the structures and the farmers would then be easily able to gather up the droppings that accumulated on the ground floor. There were a multitude of different architectual styles and sizes used that commonly denoted the farmer’s wealth as well as local styles.
Pigeon Houses are now considered architectural landmarks and are protected by the government in France. The French Ministry of Culture even has a section of their web site devoted to them which you can find at www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/itinpatr/pigeon.htm. Another web resource can be found at www.lalbenque.net/pigeon.html. (Note: both of those web sites are in French)
The Pigeon House pictured above is owned by a neighbour of Techbee’s near the town of Figeac and has been converted into a summer vacation home that is available for rent.
Thanks Techbee!
Tags: architecture, france, historicalRelated Stories
POSTED IN: General, Historical Architecture, Places to Stay
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