Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Laguille pigeon house, located in Rocamadour, Occitanie, takes the form of a circular tower typical of Quercy's rural buildings. Its calcareous lauze cover rests on a dome mounted in piles of load, while its narrow door, with a hardwood, was closed by a swivel wood panel. Inside, the walls are entirely lined with bolts, cavities intended for the laying of pigeons, accessible via a ladder articulated around a central axis. A beach with a randière (stone strip) facilitated the return of birds and aeration, reinforced by a lantern at the top. The upper part, in corbellation, prevented access to predators such as rodents.

Placed on the east side of the cliff overlooking the city of Rocamadour, this isolated dovecote strongly marks the landscape. Although its exact dating remains uncertain (between the 16th and 17th centuries), its architecture evokes the Quercy models used until the 19th century for pigeon breeding. The latter provided much appreciated meat, but mostly colombina, a natural fertilizer that was very popular for agricultural land before the 19th century. The quarter-round mouling of the cornice (hiking) may suggest an old construction, but there is no record of the owner's identity, probably linked to a prosperous agricultural estate.

The building, classified as a Historical Monument by decree of 8 March 1998, illustrates the economic and symbolic importance of the pigeons in the Occitan countryside. These structures, often associated with lords or wealthy farmers, reflected a high social status, as the right to own a pigeon tree was once reserved for an elite. Today, the Pigeonier de Laguille, although protected, remains a silent testimony of the agricultural practices and rural hierarchies of the Ancien Régime, in a site where the accuracy of its geographical location is considered a priori satisfactory (note 6/10).

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