page_title: Bee bole
section_title: Design and construction of bee boles and bee shelters
hierarchical_section_title: Bee bole / Design and construction of bee boles and bee shelters
caption_attribution_description: English: Bee boles. Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall, UK. Français&#160;: Niches construites dans un mur de brique, pour abriter des ruches traditionnelles (à fin de production de miel et cire), mais également très utile pour améliorer la pollinisation, des fruitiers notamment (Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornouaille, Royaume-Uni.
context_page_description: A bee bole is a cavity or alcove in a wall. A skep is placed in the bee bole. Before the development of modern bee hives, the use of bee boles was a practical way of keeping bees in some parts of Britain, although most beekeepers kept their skeps in the open covered by items suitable for the purpose, such as old pots or sacking. The bee bole helped to keep the wind and rain away from the skep and the bees living inside. Bee keeping was a very common activity in the past before sugar became plentiful and affordable as a sweetener. Demand was also a high for beeswax for candles, especially from the prereformation churches, cathedrals, and abbeys; tithes and rents were often paid in honey and/or beeswax, or even bee swarms.
context_section_description: Surviving bee boles are built in stone, brick, or cob walls; some found in sandstone walls have shaped, arched tops. Many stone bee boles are in drystone walls, but others are mortared. Generally, the height and width of a bee bole is between 12 and 18 in (30-45 cm) and the depth is similar or slightly less; those in Scotland tend to be a bit larger as skeps were often wrapped in sacks or dry bracken in the winter (in eastern Scotland, bee boles should not be confused with charter boles, which are generally much smaller.)  Brick walls are typically narrower than stone walls, thus bee boles located in brick walls are typically shallower. 
  The base upon which the skep sits is variable in design - circular, semicircular or square - and occasionally has a protruding lip for the bees to alight upon when they return from foraging. The hole in the skep faces onto this lip. The example at the Queen's Head Inn, Tirril, in the English Lake District, has sandstone slabs placed vertically and horizontally to produce several cavities for skeps. An ornate example set into a wall at Kersland House in Stewarton, Ayrshire, Scotland was an alcove with carved decorations.
  Sometimes, larger bee boles, or 'bee alcoves' are found, which would take several skeps.  
  A bee shelter is a wooden or stone structure, built against a wall or free-standing, with one or more shelves to accommodate several skeps. A Victorian example is The Bee Shelter at Hartpury in Gloucestershire.
  With the introduction of the Stewarton and Langstroth hives, skeps eventually ceased to be used. Bee boles were no longer made and those that survive are sometimes used for decorative purposes; although many people may be unaware of the original purpose of the recesses in the walls of their property, the majority of owners are careful to preserve or even restore their bee boles.
  The arrangement of 'hedge alcoves' occasionally seen in formal gardens may be a form of bee bole, such as at Erddig Hall in Clwyd, Cymru, although this is not certain.
  Some bee boles and other traditional beekeeping structures are part of a listed property, or are listed in their own right. Many examples can be found on the historic buildings websites for England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.
caption: Bee boles containing skeps, at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall(Register No. 0356): unusually for southern England, they have doors.
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