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Windgate House is a bastle house and associated structures located in Lanarkshire, Scotland. Bastles were fortified farmsteads built predominantly in the Anglo-Scottish borderlands during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to provide secure refuge for families, livestock and valuables during raids. The principal building at Windgate exemplifies this defensive domestic architecture, with its characteristic compact stone construction and limited openings designed to withstand the prevalent lawlessness of the period. The house stands on bedrock formed from wacke of the Portpatrick and Glenwhargen Formations, the hard sedimentary stone providing both a substantial foundation and a readily available building material for the structure's walls.
The site comprises not only the bastle house itself but also associated outbuildings and structures that would have supported the working of this defended farm. These ancillary buildings typically housed agricultural functions, storage and sometimes additional shelter. The arrangement reflects the integrated domestic and economic life of borderland farming communities, where the primary dwelling's defensive qualities were complemented by practical working spaces.
The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5257, recognising its significance as an example of regional settlement patterns and vernacular architecture during a distinctive period of Scottish rural history.
Windgate House,bastle house and associated structures is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5257. View the official record →
Windgate House is a bastle house and associated structures located in Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM5257.
Windgate House,bastle house and associated structures is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM5257.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Camps Knowe Wood,fort (4.3 km), Campshead,unenclosed platform settlement 800m WNW of (5.2 km), Normangill,henge (6.7 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of Windgate House,bastle house and associated structures's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Windgate House,bastle house and associated structures stands on Portpatrick Formation And Glenwhargen Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Caradocian. The rock here is wacke.