It is characteristic of the square arched dovecotes of which there are still many examples because their very structure makes them more resistant. The flight grids were located at the level of the dormers taken from the cow-tail roof (roofs whose lower part marks an angle with the upper part). Upstairs, the aviary room contained the “boulins”, a housing unit reserved for a couple of pigeons; they could be basketry, pottery, or directly dug into the wall. The building is built in brick, the arcades and pillars in stone. Halfway up, a slate strip prevented rodents from entering the aviary. At the top, two finials crown the roof.
Near Clairac, we can mention that of Meynié (Fernan) whose dimensions and double archway still testify to the importance of this property which belonged for a long time to the Loche, then to the Dutilh; in Bourran, let us point out that of Estripeaux, whose last level was delicately decorated and which was demolished a few years ago.
It was through his wife that the Parisian Guy Morizet (1908-1993) became Clairacais, marrying in the church of St-Pierre-ès-Liens in August 1939. The architect that he was settled there when he retired in 1977 and indulged in one of his passions: the study of pigeon lofts. He used his talent as a draughtsman (he had won several drawing competitions during his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris) to make surveys combining the rigour of the architect with the sensitivity of the artist. It is about a hundred dovecotes from the lower Lot valley and the region of the confluence that he thus represented, composing a unique anthology of these rural constructions. For more information, the reader may refer to issues 57 and 58 of the Mémoire du fleuve, published in 2015, in which his overall study appeared.
