Construction of the dovecote XVIIe siècle (≈ 1750)
Estimated period of construction of the monument.
9 septembre 1933
Registration for Historic Monuments
Registration for Historic Monuments 9 septembre 1933 (≈ 1933)
Official date of protection of the dovecote.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
Colombier located in a herbage next to a manor house: inscription by order of 9 September 1933
Key figures
Information non disponible - No character identified
Sources do not mention any related historical actors.
Origin and history
The dovecoier de Saint-Jean-de-Livet is a 17th-century building located in a herbage near a manor house in the territory of the commune of Saint-Jean-de-Livet, Calvados department. This monument, typical of the agricultural constructions of the period, is one of the few remains still visible of the Saint John mansion, now disappeared or transformed. Its designation as Historic Monuments, effective since September 9, 1933, reflects its heritage and architectural importance in the region.
The dovecotes, at this time, played a major economic and symbolic role in seigneurial areas or large farms. They served not only to raise pigeons for their meat and eggs, but also to affirm the social status of their owners, often nobles or wealthy bourgeois. In the Norman rural context of the 17th century, these buildings reflected a hierarchical social organization, where the possession of a dovecote was a privilege reserved for an elite.
The site is located about 50 metres south of the Saint John church of Saint-Jean-de-Livet, suggesting the integration of the dovecote into a broader seigneurial or parish complex. Available sources, including the Monumental Statistics of Calvados d'Arcisse de Caumont (1867), briefly mention this monument, confirming its historical anchoring in the local landscape. Today, although the mansion has disappeared, the dovecote remains as a material witness of that time.
