Click for the home page

                           

           the DOVECOTE
Red meat was only part of the diet of a monk if he was ill and in the infirmary. But fish was eaten in the refectory  and the meat of birds. There is no certain evidence that Reading Abbey had a dovecote within its walls, but it is probable and a position near the Abbey mill is certainly possible. Your mind may have jumped to the corn going through this mill and the possibility that grains were often spilled as the corn was delivered. The doves would have been constantly on the watch.

Copyright Reading Museum Service from "Reading Abbey", published by Reading Museum & Art Gallery 1988.

click to return to Discovering Reading Abbey