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Bee Boles Register Home
.jpg) A skep in a bee bole (0078) | What are bee boles?
A row of recesses, often in a south-facing garden wall. Each recess was big enough to hold a skep – the coiled-straw hive used by beekeepers in Britain before the introduction of the modern wooden hive in the late 19th century. What is the IBRA Bee Boles Register?
Records of bee boles and other beekeeping structures built in the past. Started by Dr Eva Crane in 1952, the Register now contains paper records for 1444 sites, and photographic prints, transparencies and/or electronic images for most of them. To improve accessibility to the records and to encourage conservation and further recording, the Register was put into a database and made available online in 2005. The work was organized by Penelope Walker, with the help of those mentioned in Acknowledgements.
This database was last updated on 2 July 2008. | .jpg)
Bee boles (0131) | What does the IBRA Bee Boles Register database contain?
A wealth of information on bee boles and other beekeeping structures (see Types of structure) that were used in the past to provide shelter for skeps of honey bees – and hundreds of pictures. They were built in many parts of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (for France, see Further information, below) – have a browse to see what there is in your area. Click Search. | 
Bee boles (0758) | Use of the IBRA Bee Boles Register, and intellectual property rights
All data, images and information in this web site (together with all intellectual property in the document) are the property of IBRA, except where a copyright symbol © appears. All rights reserved. (Note that "© Crown copyright: RCAHMW" indicates "© Crown copyright: Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales".)
The Register is available free for personal viewing and research. However, prior permission must be obtained from IBRA (see Contact us) – or copyright holders indicated – for use of any part of this web site for any other purposes.
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A few of the structures are accessible to the public (e.g. at National Trust properties), but all others are on private property. It is essential that anyone wanting to view a particular structure makes a prior appointment with the owner. The Register database complies with the Data Protection Act 1998. | Bee boles (0912) | Dimensions
Measurements were made in feet and inches when recording started in 1952, and this continued after metrication. So that comparisons can be made, the dimensions given in the Register database are all non-metric. (1 inch = 2.54 cm; if converting, bear in mind that the metric dimensions obtained are over-exact for the structures.) |
Further information
For those interested in reading about the beekeeping structures and their use in the past, click Publications.
Property owners whose bee boles are in dry-stone walls may be interested in the Dry Stone Walling Association web site (www.dswa.org.uk).
The Garden History Society also has a useful web site (www.gardenhistorysociety.org).
About 150 walls with recesses for hives (bee boles, 'niches') have been recorded in France, and some in Belgium. Until 2001, the records were collected by the IBRA Register, and they are now held by Apistoria which is planning to set up a database. For an article on these sites, and further relevant references, see Walker and Crane (2004) in Publications. For information about Apistoria, contact Gaby Roussel, Apt 51, rue de la Source 74, 1060 Brussels, Belgium
Can you help?
We still hear about "new" structures that have not been recorded for the Register. If you know of any in your area, or would like to help with incomplete recordings, please tell us.
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