Wroxton Dovecote

The Wroxton Dovecote is a small Gothic tower of ironstone in the park of Wroxton Abbey, at Wroxton west of Banbury. Sanderson Miller designed it in 1745, as both a home for pigeons and an eyecatcher. Historic England lists it Grade II*.

The story of the dovecote

It was built when Francis North, later Earl of Guilford, was turning the valley below the Abbey into Rococo pleasure grounds with Miller's advice, between 1737 and 1751. Most of the Chinese-style garden buildings of those years have gone, and the dovecote still stands. Historic England describes it as a dovecote and eye-catcher, which covers both jobs: a building meant to be useful and to be looked at from across the park.

Miller was busy in these years. He remodelled the Abbey's chapel in 1747, began the tower of All Saints in the village in 1748, and built his own sham castle at Edge Hill about 1746 to 1747, a few miles north-west.

What to look for

The listing describes a polygonal plan over two storeys, in ironstone, with a pointed doorway, loop windows (some of them blocked), a decorative band and a banner-type weather vane. The crenellated parapet was renewed in the twentieth century, so the battlements you see are not Miller's own stones. The register's summary calls the plan octagonal, and some descriptions call it round.

Nobody can tell you much about the inside from the record. The listing says its inspector did not go in, and we found no published account of the nesting boxes, so we will not guess at them.

Visiting

The dovecote stands in the Abbey's park, about 200m south-west of the house, and it is not open. The village history calls it 'the dovecote in Wroxton Park', and the village website says the grounds remain accessible for peaceful walks, but the college publishes nothing on that, and we could not establish that a public right of way goes up to the building. Look at it from a distance, from whichever path you are on, and do not climb any fence. Our photograph shows sheep grazing around it, and dogs are not permitted in the grounds, according to the village website.

Getting there

Start in Wroxton, on the A422, where there is no public car park, so park with care. Stagecoach's 76 and 76A from Banbury stop on the A422 at The Firs and Horley Turn: when we checked, five buses ran out from Banbury and four back from Monday to Saturday, and none on Sundays (November 2026). Our page on Wroxton Abbey sets out what is and is not established about the grounds and the footpath.

Nearby

The Wroxton Obelisk and Drayton Arch belong to the same landscape. The Wroxton Hotel is in the village and the Roebuck Inn is at Drayton.