Byres Tower, Byres

Byres Tower is a roofless, two-storey, two-bay structure from the 16th century, located within a large walled enclosure and currently in poor condition. It shows evidence of its origins as a small bastel house. The building is constructed from random rubble of sandstone and whinstone, with heavy sandstone dressings. Most of the tooling is minimal, featuring simple rounded chamfers and cut angles. Originally gabled, the tower has a west elevation that includes a doorway to the north flanked by a single slit window, and a first-floor doorway also to the north with a single square window opening beside it. The east elevation features a single slit window on the ground floor, along with a ruinous doorway and an infilled window on the first floor. The north gable has tiny central windows on the first floor, while the south gable also has single windows on the first floor.

Notably, the ground level on the south gable incorporates an unusual series of eight stone "nestboxes," divided by stone slabs in two rows alternating with ratcourses, each with tiny entrances to the outside, most of which are infilled on the inside. These may have originally had wooden doors and could have served as beeboles or hencoups. Iron hinges for doors or gates are still present on the west elevation. The interior of the ground floor features a barrel-vaulted ceiling with remnants of lime plaster, and there is a niche in the wall by the doorway, possibly intended for lamps. The first floor retains a fireplace in the south gable and vestiges of lime plaster. Two post-holes in the external west wall at the base of the first-floor door suggest the presence of an original external wooden stair. Additionally, a regular line of post-holes at the same level on the east elevation may indicate an earlier timber gallery construction. The surrounding walls of the enclosure are made of random rubble, are patched, and have variable coping, standing approximately three meters high but lowered in some areas.