The Pigeons of St Paul's are the peculiar pigeons featured in the story by the same name written in the Tales of the Peculiar. The flock currently residing in St. Paul's Cathedral is friends with Miss Wren. The pigeons' exact peculiarities are not mentioned, but it is known the flock has resided in the Cathedral for hundreds of years. Pigeons would make occasional friends in the loops of London, such as in the case of Winnifred and Melina Manon.
Main Series[]
Sometime during the events of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, several of the pigeons traveled to Miss Wren's loop in an attempt to warn her about the kidnapping of ymbrynes and dozens of other peculiars in London. The warning probably saved her life, since a hollow would later attack the loop, but the pigeons were probably surprised when Miss Wren abandoned her loop with no ymbryne in it to reset it and immediately flew for London.
Hollow City[]
Tales of the Peculiar[]
The Pigeons of St. Paul's is a story featuring the pigeons and Christopher Wren in the Tales of the Peculiar.
Tales of the Peculiar (book) version[]
The pigeons didn't care for humans except to pick up their food scraps, and kept their distance by living high up in trees. However, humans began building tall buildings, intruding into the air, which the pigeons considered their private domain. Most pigeons agreed to start sabotaging the buildings, which at the time was easy because everything was made of wood and straw, and easy to burn. The humans kept building, and soon started using stone, which was not as easy to burn, so the pigeons attempted to disrupt construction. This did not stop the building of a cathedral, which lasted until the Vikings destroyed London.
After the Vikings left, St. Paul's Cathedral was built, and the pigeons' attempts to burn it were always stopped by firefighters. Instead, they set fires in adjacent areas in the hope they would spread, which was successful when Nesmith the pigeon set a bakery on fire and the fire was blown to the cathedral, destroying it and many other buildings. The humans started taking revenge on the pigeons, who fought back.
A year later, Christopher Wren was tasked with the rebuilding of the cathedral, and he went to the pigeons to negotiate for peace: the cathedral would be useful for pigeons as well as humans. After it was built, the pigeons felt so much pride in it that they swore to protect it, and became lifelong friends with Wren.
Hollow City Tales of the Peculiar version[]
In this more common version, the pigeons are the builders rather than the destroyers. Before there were any tall buildings in London, a flock of peculiar pigeons wanted a high place to roost. At night, the pigeons secretly whispered their plans of how to build a magnificent tower into the ear of the most industrious human they could find. This tower, however, was eventually burned down by the Vikings. The pigeons had to find another architect, and a grander church tower was built, but it eventually burned as well. For hundreds of years, this cycle continued, each tower more ambitious than the last.
Eventually, the pigeons brought their latest plan to Christopher Wren, who resisted the idea because he believed the hill the towers were built on to be cursed since so many had burned down there. After Wren rejected the pigeons when they came to him during the day, they began to harass him until he finally agreed to build the tower. However, he asked that the pigeons guard it from fire, which they agreed to since they recognized that they could have been better guardians of all their previous towers.
The grand cathedral was built, and the pigeons and Wren were so proud of it that they became close friends.
Known Peculiar Pigeons[]
- Winnifred
- Nesmith