Coole Park & Gardens and Visitor Centre

The recently restored Visitor Centre includes one of the original stables which still contains elaborate stalls for five horses. A loft overhead was used for storage of hay and also carpentry and other tools. Across the old cobbled stable yard lies the ruins of the coach and harness rooms. A variety of coaches such as victorias, phaetons and broughams were kept here and were washed from the water pump in the centre of the yard. Grain was stored in the coach house loft and above this was the dovecote. The keeping of pigeons and doves is believed to have been a medieval tradition, though it was also known in Roman times. Up until the late 18th century, when storable root crops became popular, it was difficult to feed stock over the winter and so many of the animals had to be slaughtered before the winter. This meant that fresh meat was often scarce. Many manor houses and monastic farms used pigeons to provide fresh meat and eggs and therefore established dovecotes especially for this purpose.