The Moseley Dovecote is one of the oldest surviving structures in Moseley and a rare reminder of the area’s rural past. It stands on Alcester Road beside Moseley Hall Hospital and dates from the eighteenth century, when it formed part of the wider Moseley Hall estate and its surrounding farmland.
Dovecotes were once an important feature of large estates, providing a steady supply of meat and eggs, and the Moseley example is an octagonal brick building designed to house hundreds of birds. As the estate was broken up and the district became suburbanised, most of the original farm buildings disappeared, leaving the dovecote as one of the last tangible links to Moseley’s pre-industrial landscape.
In the twentieth century the structure was threatened with demolition, but local campaigning saved it and it was carefully restored. Today it is cared for by the Moseley Society, which opens it to the public on selected Sunday afternoons and during heritage events.
Set among modern roads and hospital buildings, the Moseley Dovecote stands as a small but powerful survivor, connecting today’s busy suburb with the quiet agricultural village that once stood on the edge of Birmingham.
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