The stone tower had two storeys and was later topped by a brick built domed roof with an oculus or circular hole and a castellated parapet.

[1] In the early 19th century the windmill tower was converted for use as a dovecot or doocot with the aforementioned pierced brick built domed roof added, a so-called decorative 'rat course' and a castelleated parapet.

[5][6] Auchinbaird was a nearby farm and the name is often applied to this vaulted tower windmill, a construction type that is rare in the UK outside Scotland[7] It was converted into a dovecote sometime before 1860 with nesting boxes and a potence.

Such buildings provided a valuable source of fresh meat and eggs, adding variety to meals, especially in the winter months.

The large amounts of droppings, which built up on the doocot's floors, made a valuable general fertiliser and was also used in the production of gunpowder and in such processes as the dyeing of linen and in tanning leather.

[8] Windmills were often built in areas of low rainfall or where the land was flat and the water current sluggish, however in this location the advantage was the expectation of suitable winds in post-harvest months.

The structure, built of local materials, often stone rubble, stood on an artificial mound over a stone-built vaulted chamber or cellar.

Scottish windmills, as with watermills, were basically meal-mills, mainly producing wheaten and oaten meals as well as ground barley and bruised corn.