OCTAGONS

I have long been interested in structures with an octagonal footprint. Until a couple of years ago the only ones I had seen were at garden centres and the like, and I rather fancied making one with a peaked roof and an oak frame. The geometry of the frame was what particularly caught my fancy, but the challenge of designing and making an octagonal building also appealed to me.

Last summer we came across pigeon lofts built on a grander scale like this one in Surrey. It is a bit decrepit outside and no longer used by pigeons. Apparently when they were fashionable on large estates one could only build them with Council permission. The pigeons were seen as an alternative source of fresh meat. And in Surrey.... their poo was used as a basis for saltpetre which was used in making gunpowder.

There is a joke somewhere here.

Looking inside the building this is what one sees of the roof. Very interesting. The walls are covered in a row after row of little cubby holes where the pigeons would roost. In taking this picture I had to be very careful of where I was standing and leaning: pigeon lofts are not congenial or hygienic places to linger in.


In looking for photos for this note I came across this one of a charming shelter in a village green somewhere in the Cotswolds.




















It's roof is even more elaborate.




My "dream" will not happen unfortunately because I cannot think of a sensible place to put one in the garden