architectural practice
Eastcote House Gardens, High Road, HA5 2FE
The dovecote at Eastcote House Gardens is an 18th-century, Grade II listed brick structure with a tiled roof, originally built to house pigeons for food and manure. It replaced an earlier Elizabethan dovecote by the Hawtrey family. Now preserved as part of a tranquil gardens. Usually out-of-bounds to the public, it reflects historic manor life.
Eastcote
West Ruislip
282, 398
Car parking on-site.
11:00–16:00
Eastcote House Gardens, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, dates back to the 16th century as the grounds of Eastcote House, a timber-framed manor built around 1507 by the Hawtrey family. Although the house was demolished in 1964, several outbuildings survived, including the Walled Garden, Coach House, Stables, and notably the Dovecote.
The Dovecote, likely from the 17th century, is a circular brick building that housed pigeons, an important food and manure source. It symbolized the status of landowners, as only certain classes could maintain dovecotes. Featuring a conical roof and interior nesting boxes, the Grade II listed building was restored in the early 2000s after falling into disrepair.
Today, Eastcote House Gardens is a public park with formal gardens, tea rooms, and community events, with the dovecote remaining a key historic feature reflecting agricultural and domestic life in historic Middlesex
The Grade II listed dovecote at Eastcote House Gardens, a historic 18th-century structure, is rarely open to the public. While the gardens themselves are accessible daily, the dovecote's interior is typically closed. This Open House, you can discover a truly unique and well preserved structure intrinsically linked to the local area's past.