Rookeries in Castles

The_Minister

I was reading Jane Eyre, which mentions a big house that has a rookery. I've read other things that mentions these old places having rookeries.
What did they do?

europerson

Eh, a rookery is just a group of rooks' nests. The rook is the most common crow species in the British Isles. In Ireland, we usually just call them "crows".

The_Minister

I know what rooks are, and that rooks nest in rookeries, but the books I have read make it sound like a purposeful building, like they tried to attract the rooks. I want to know what they wanted them for.

InFront

Dunno but wiki says this:

A rookery may also be a place where marine mammals such as the seal, sea lion, and walrus breed, give birth,and nurse their young, such as a beach or similar location.

sorry cant be of more help are you sure they mean birds??

The_Minister

InFront wrote:

sorry cant be of more help are you sure they mean birds??

I checked Wiki, nothing. The rookeries mentioned are on the roof, a position uncomfortable for seals, sea lions and walruses.
Thanks though:)

Lord Suave

Perhaps the rookery is intended to serve no actual purpose and is just another form of folly ?

The_Minister

Lord Suave wrote:

Perhaps the rookery is intended to serve no actual purpose and is just another form of folly ?

I thought of that, but:
1) Then why would so many have them?
2) Why rooks? Not the prettiest birds.

Lord Suave

Why so many of them ?
Well follies were quite the rage for large and stately houses in 18th century or so.
As to why rooks no idea, its a pretty common bird so I suspect easy to get a colony of rooks established maybe. Rooks probally fitted in well with the idea ruins and other gothic things.

DadaKopf

There's a place in Streatham Common, London, called the Rookery. It's a flower garden.

lostexpectation

oh i thought rookeries were actualy avaries,

did anyone see them restoring the pigeon house on communtiy challenge

hmm http://images.google.ie/images?hl=en&q=rookery&btnG=Google+Search&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

maybe it describes an architectural perch that birds often congragate on?

il gatto

Large houses and castles tend to have large, deciduous trees around them. Crows like to nest in a group, usually amonst such trees, so a rookery would (and is) often found in such places. That's why you get a large gathering of crows squawking around dusk (very atmospheric), as they all nest in the same few trees. It's called a parliment of crows (or rooks).
That, and the upper classes had more time to dwell on thef iner points of nature than the down trodden peasants:D

brianthebard

The_Minister wrote:

I thought of that, but:
1) Then why would so many have them?
2) Why rooks? Not the prettiest birds.

1) Because they didn't bother trying to chase a bunch of rooks away all the time?

2)because it is a fictional tale, and the rooks may add a sense of foreboding or fear, given their associations with death, carrion and the like???