Winkston Tower House

Winkston Tower House is a 2-storey, 3-bay rectangular-plan tower house built in 1545 and extensively restored in 1734. Originally a laird's house, it has been altered for use as a dairy and then a store. The structure is made of local whinstone rubble with yellow sandstone dressings. Notable features include a roll-moulded surround to a blind original window and plain skewless gables.

On the southeast elevation, which is now the principal front, there is a narrow entrance door at the center with chamfered arrises and a re-used lintel inscribed "ANNO DOM(INI) 1545." To the left of the entrance, there is a former window that has been converted into a door, and to the right, there is a window with a lintel inscribed "17 ILG [?S] 34." The first floor has three later bays that are now blind.

The southwest elevation features a gable end with an original roll-mould surround window on the first floor to the left, and an 18th-century attic window near the eaves on the extreme left. There is a wallhead stack on this elevation.

The northwest (rear) elevation has a ground floor with a blocked gun-port at the center and a former window to the right bay, which is concealed by a later timber lean-to. The first floor has a blind window at the center and remains of a gun-port on the extreme left.

The northeast elevation has a gabled end with a later gabled farm building that conceals the ground floor. There is a small window on the upper right of the first floor and a blind gablehead above.

The original glazing plan and window apertures have been lost, but the original window remains on the first floor of the southwest gable, while later windows are now blind. The roof is pitched with grey-blue slate and features metal ridge tiles, along with a cast-iron rooflight on the main elevation. The rainwater goods are painted cast-iron, and there are 18th-century rubble gablehead stacks without cans, with the southwest stack located to the left of the main gable.

Inside, the building has been remodelled, with the basement vault and original stair removed. It is currently used as a store, featuring two separate rooms on the ground floor. The right-hand room has a large fireplace on the northeast gable with an inset aumbry. The first floor contains a divided room with a fireplace from 1734 in the northwest gable.