Historians are on the hunt for historic Dales dovecotes to help in a conservation project.

Robert White, a Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) senior conservation archaeologist, said: “Dovecotes played an important part in rural life in the national park.

“The birds they housed provided their owners with many resources, including eggs and meat for food, feathers for bedding – and even fertiliser.”

Now owners of the up-market accommodation for doves and pigeons are being asked to contact the authority so records of them can be made.

“We want to hear from people who have them, whether they are built into their houses or outbuildings or are free-standing, because if we can identify more examples and increase our knowledge of their design and distribution, we will be able to improve the ways we can conserve and protect them in the future,” said Mr White.

“Not all of them have survived so we would also be interested in any documentary records.”

The initiative is part of the YDNPA’s Feature of the Season Project, designed to increase understanding and appreciation of unrecorded, small-scale historic features in the national park, ranging from unusual gateposts and churn stands to veteran trees and turbary stones – markers on land from which peat could be cut.

* Anyone who has information about dovecotes is asked to contact the authority’s historic environment team on 01969 652300.