These days, pigeons have a pretty low standing in our consideration of birds. While there is widespread appreciation and even respect for the majestic eagle, the wise owl, the paternal penguin, and the dainty hummingbird, many people consider pigeons to be little more than pests, especially in places where their droppings are a messy and unsightly blight on the urban landscape. You can purchase spikes to stop pigeons from landing on buildings, and there are many bird feeders specifically designed to keep pigeons away from the delectable array of seeds offered to smaller, cuter, and more popular birds.
It wasn’t always this way. In many parts of medieval Europe, pigeons enjoyed a privileged status. Keeping domesticated pigeons, descended from the common rock pigeon, was a practice spread by the Romans, and it flourished in medieval Britain, with many castles featuring dovecotes (also known as columbariums or culverhouses) to house hundreds or even thousands of birds. They were a valuable asset, providing meat, eggs, and feathers. They were especially important as a source of food in the winter months, typically in pies made with meat from young pigeons (squabs). Dovecotes were status symbols, and up until the end of the Elizabethan era, only lords who had been given royal permission could build them.
On the other side of the English Channel, the elite status associated with pigeon ownership became a flashpoint in the French Revolution, as French peasants were excluded from keeping pigeons until the end of the 18th century.
Dovecotes also provided an unending supply of a surprisingly sought-after resource: pigeon dung. The bird droppings were used for tanning leather and fertilizing fields, orchards, and vineyards. Yet it wasn’t until the mid-16th century that pigeon dung (also known as guano) became a hugely valuable commodity. Guano contains saltpeter (the chemical compound potassium nitrate), an essential ingredient in gunpowder production. Following this discovery, the value of pigeon droppings skyrocketed; in Britain, it approached the price of silver for several decades.
Yet the heyday of the pigeon wasn’t to last. Even back in the days when pigeons were prized for their meat, feathers, and droppings, they were already considered a nuisance by the farmers whose crops they descended upon. With the discovery of natural deposits of saltpeter in various parts of the world, it was no longer necessary to use bird guano, and its value plummeted. The turnip was another unlikely contributor to the pigeon’s downfall. It was introduced to Britain at the start of the 18th century and provided a reliable food source for fattening livestock during the winter, thus decreasing the need for pigeon meat.
So how did they come to take over our cities? As pigeons lost their value, the dovecotes fell into disuse, and the birds searched for new places to call home. Harking back to their origins nesting on rock-faces, they found that urban areas provided unlimited opportunities for roosting and nesting, much to the chagrin of the human population. Centuries later, their feral descendants continue to reside in cities all over the world. They may be widely considered pests, but at least today’s pigeons are largely spared from ending up in pies!
The medieval love affair with pigeons:
- In medieval England, it was believed that sleeping on a mattress filled with pigeon down meant you would have a long life.
- Although there were around 26,000 dovecotes in Britain in the mid-17th century, only around 400 still exist. Garway, Herefordshire, is home to Britain’s oldest surviving free-standing dovecote, constructed in the early 14th century.
- The largest dovecotes in medieval Britain contained as many as 30,000 pigeons.
