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History

One of the most striking architectural features at Kingsbarns Distillery is the doocot - the Scots word for dovecot - and this was originally a free-standing structure, and with its Adam style crenulations and Gothic detailing, it looks to all the world like a miniature fortified tower.

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Built around 1800 as part of East Newhall Farm by Thomas Erskine, the ninth Earl of Kellie, this charming Georgian farm steading once serviced Cambo House and the Estate.

But the doocot was not built just for show: its scores of neatly formed terracotta nesting boxes housed a flock of plump pigeons to supply the laird’s kitchen with meat and eggs.

The sandstone masonry and lime harled exterior of the doocot have been carefully restored in the original style. Over 600 terracotta ‘doo boxes’ have been conserved and the pantiled roof replaced, so it’s fit for another 200 years. Today the doos have long since flown but the doocot remains the iconic centrepiece of the former farm steading and a symbol for our whisky. It evokes our roots and heritage, and within its walls we celebrate the future of Kingsbarns Distillery by displaying the first cask to be filled with our spirit.