[1] The 17th-century Monkcastle is a category B listed ruin,[2] although it has been consolidated and stands next to a private house, constructed from the converted old home farm buildings.

[8] Monkcastle was a "part of the ancient halydom of Kilwinning, which about this time was beginning to be parcelled out by the Abbots, to whoever would best remunerate them for the ostensible gift, foreseeing that their own possession was becoming doubtful and unsteady."

Alexander passed the property to Claud,[9] his third son, who became Commendator of Paisley, at the age of ten,[10] duly ratified and approved by Pope Julius III in 1553;[11] this may account for the mitred head which appears in a panel above the doorway, together with other sculptures,[12] typical of early 17th-century castles and also found at sites such as Barholm, Ardblair, and Dundarave.

"[14] The ruins of Monkcastle are in woodland to the west of the A737 trunk road on the right bank of the River Garnock, 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) south of Dalry and 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) north of Kilwinning and represent a small, late 16th or early 17th century 'T-plan' laird's house which has replaced some of the earlier structures that stood on the site;[14] a Monkcastle is recorded in 1536.

[19] Alexander-William Miller built the surviving Monkcastle House[20] nearby, circa 1820, probably designed by the architect David Hamilton and similar in architectural style to Swindridgemuir.

It is not known which country this individual came from, but San Antonio de Escazu is a town in Costa Rica; he is buried in Kilwinning Cemetery.

He encouraged 'spade husbandry' and regularly achieved a crop of sixty to seventy bushels per acre, whilst with the plough only thirty was generally produced.

He was a great adherent to the cause of Queen Mary and after the Battle of Langside his lands were confiscated and passed to Lord Semple who "exercised all around a severe military discipline, displaying every violence and oppression on that power can do, to maintain a precarious position.

[26] Claud's son, James, was created Earl of Abercorn, Baron of Paisley, Hamilton, Mountcastle (sic), and Kilpatrick in 1604[10][15] or 1606; in the same year he was appointed as one of the commissioners to "treat of an union with England.

[27] John Wallace, minister of Largs, obtained the Monkcastle lands and his son, George, sold them to an advocate, Adam Cuninghame.

Adam's sister, Jean, sold the lands to Alexander Miller in 1723 with the permission of her husband, David Forrester of Denovan.

[20] The property passed to his elder brother, William Miller, who married Jean Nimmo of Bridgehouse in Linlithgow in 1727, acquiring through this marriage Netherhill House, in the parish of Torphichen.

The estate passed to the elder son, William, who in 1773 married Agnes Cunninghame, daughter of George Cuninghame of Monkredding.

William Alexander, who had lived at Monkcastle, married Anna Maria, second daughter of Admiral Campbell of the Portuguese Navy.

[28] The monks established a network of tracks that linked their properties, one of which ran via Dalgarven Mill to Monkcastle and onto Craigmill via Craighead.

The surface of the inclined plane railroad was paved with firebricks, for employees to walk up the tracks to get to the main Dalry to Kilwinning road where they could catch a bus.

She answered her accusers that she received information on prophecies or to the whereabouts of lost goods from a Thomas Reid, a former barony officer in Dalry who died at the Battle of Pinkie some 30 years before.

[31] She said she first met him while walking between her own house and the yard of Monkcastle, and after a discussion he disappeared through a hole in a wall or dyke, apparently too small for a normal person to pass through.

Her abilities were more akin to today’s current psychics, and with an understanding of medicinal herbs, she was identified in a time of witchcraft hysteria.

A rocky glen runs up from Monkcastle with a significant waterfall and a listing as part of a Scottish Wildlife Trust local site for nature conservation.

Aspen (Populus tremulans) has been recorded here; liverworts, ferns, and mosses are common due to the conditions of continuous high humidity.

In February 1903 the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald recorded that "Through the kindness of Mr and Mrs Grant of Monkcastle, the tenentry and servants were entertained to their annual supper and dance on Friday evening.

[37] The 'Monkcastle' element of the title 'Duke of Abercorn, Paisley and Monkcastle' has transmogrified into 'Mountcastle' and several streets in Edinburgh have acquired this version of the placename.

Kilwinning Monkcastle was the name of a local football club, formed as a senior team in 1883 and disbanded in 1900 due to mounting debts.