Louise Storey:
“I have a very distinct visual childhood memory of this: walking from home along West 3 rd Street towards Fennell, I’d see this small building in the distance, and wonder what it was, and what it was used for.”

Louise posted the above comment to Vintage Hamilton in response to viewing a photograph of the Dovecote in January 2021. The photograph is attributed to the Gerald Little Family.

People still wonder what that small building is and what it was used for.

When Isaac Buchanan owned Auchmar, the Dovecote, like the kitchen garden, was a source of food for the dinner table. During the following decades, its purpose changed to meet the needs of the owners.

The Auchmar Dovecote is an unique structure. Few remain. There is an ornate Dovecote at Dundurn Castle.

The photographs represent three eras of ownership: Elsie Buchanan, A.V.Young, and the Hungarian Sisters of Social Service.

Over the decades, many of the unique details of the Dovecote have disappeared.

They conclude with the present state of the Auchmar Dovecote.

The photographs are courtesy of the Vasseur Family, the Young Family Private Collection, the Hamilton Public Library, the Doug Embleton Collection, Terry Geissler and the Gerald Little family.