' By the time anyone thought to record it properly, it was already gone.

Dovecotes, sometimes called pigeon houses, were once a common feature of Irish and British estate landscapes. They provided a reliable source of fresh meat and eggs during winter months when other provisions were scarce, and their presence close to a country house was as practical as it was status-conscious; only landowners of a certain standing were traditionally permitted to keep them. The Waterpark example sat roughly fifty metres west-northwest of a structure known as Old Court. The fact that the 1842 map already calls it the 'Old' Pigeon House suggests it may have been considered something of a relic even then, perhaps surviving as a roofless shell or partial wall while the estate around it continued in use. At some point after that survey was made, it disappeared entirely from the landscape.