Dovecot, Barnyards Of Findlater is a Grade A listed building in the Aberdeenshire local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 22 February 1972.
Dovecot, Barnyards Of Findlater
- WRENN ID
- sacred-postern-quill
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- Aberdeenshire
- Constituency
- Aberdeenshire North and Moray East MP: Seamus Logan (SNP)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 22 February 1972
- OS grid reference
- NJ 539 667
- Coordinates
- 57.68813, -2.77329
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Probably dating from the 16th century, this dovecot is a random rubble structure built in a distinctive beehive shape, arranged across three diminishing tiers. Each tier is capped with a "rat course," and the whole structure is covered by a shallow rubble domed roof pierced by a central flight hole at the apex. A doorway is located on the south face, featuring simple ashlar jambs set under a relieving arch. Two small flight holes are positioned above the second rat course.
The interior is lined with approximately 700 small, closely fitted stone nesting boxes, arranged in diminishing rows from the floor to the apex flight hole.
The dovecot occupies a commanding site close to the cliff edge, overlooking Findlater Castle and Sunnyside Bay. It was built to serve the medieval Findlater Castle, the ruins of which are visible on the promontory below. Further details are provided in G.A.G. Peterkin’s Scottish Dovecots (1980), page 59.
Local climate
Dovecot, Barnyards Of Findlater sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 990 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 79% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 7 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 94% of listed buildings. Of these, 6 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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