Yours for £120k, the castle that’s on a housing estate
SCOTLAND has its fair share of historic buildings, but this tiny tower, nestled in the centre of a block of modern flats, really takes the biscuit.
Merchants Way, in Inverkeithing, Fife, is a pleasant avenue a few minutes’ walk from the train station, lined with modern apartment buildings.
However, number 40 is an old dovecote – or doocot, to use the Scots term – dating back to the 17th century, and it sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison to the rest of the houses in the area.
The doocot, which would have housed doves or pigeons, was built shortly after 1694, in the orchard of Rosebery House.
With its round turret and crow-stepped gable roof, it looks just like something out of a fairy tale.
While it retains its historic charm and quirks, inside, the doocot has been completely modernised. The one-bedroom property is spread over three floors.
On the ground floor, there’s a spacious, newly-fitted kitchen, and a shower room.
Upstairs, there’s a lounge with a double-height ceiling.
The bedroom sits on the mezzanine level, with a balcony overlooking the lounge.
Twelve small skylights help to maintain the appearance of a doocot.
The property is surrounded by a small strip of lawn, and there’s off-street parking – something it definitely would not have had in its former life as a bird coop.
Rosebery House still stands, though it is now separated from the doocot by a road and housing.
The three-storey house, which is also B-listed, is thought to be the oldest surviving house in the burgh, dating back to the 15th or 16th century.
The house – which was at one point used as a doctor’s surgery, and was once owned by the first Earl of Rosebery – has had many modifications in its lifetime.
It originally consisted of an oblong main block, facing the street, with a pend that gave access to the courtyard behind.
In the 17th century the house was partly rebuilt, and further alterations were made in the 18th century.
Doocots may be free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn.
Early, purpose-built doocots in Scotland were built in a ‘beehive’ shape – circular, tapering up to a domed roof.
In the late 16th century, they were superseded by the ‘lectern’ type – a rectangular doocot with a mono-pitched roof sloping steeply.
The house is on sale through House Simple for offers in excess of £119,000.