Shaw Monument, Prestwick is a Grade B listed building in the South Ayrshire local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 14 April 1971.

Shaw Monument, Prestwick

WRENN ID
lesser-screen-wren
Grade
B
Local Planning Authority
South Ayrshire
Constituency
Central Ayrshire MP: Alan Gemmell (Lab)
Country
Scotland
Date first listed
14 April 1971
OS grid reference
NS 367 261
Coordinates
55.50153, -4.5857
Source
Historic Environment Scotland listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Shaw Monument is a circular tower built in the later 18th century, located west of Prestwick Airport. Constructed from random rubble, the tower rises from a coped cylindrical base. A doorway faces east, flanked by a window opening and an infilled opening. The tall shaft of the tower steps in from the base, with three vertically arranged windows above the doorway. A coped cornice sits above a machicolated eaves course, which in turn supports a three-arch open crown. The interior was not inspected in 1999, but is said to contain a long spiral staircase leading to the top of the tower. According to Cuthbertson, the Laird of Shaw, a keen falconer, built the monument so that he could observe his birds from the top. It is shown on Andrew Armstrong’s 1775 map of Ayrshire and appears on the 1860 and 1897 Ordnance Survey maps.

Local climate

Shaw Monument, Prestwick sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,520 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 98% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 99% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 17 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 83% of listed buildings. Of these, 8 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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  • Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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Nearby listed buildings

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