Kilwinning Sports Complex

Scrappy remains of a Tironensian Benedictine monastery, founded late 12th century by monks from Kelso. It fell into ruin at the 16th-century Reformation and much of its stone was carried off for use elsewhere. One of its west towers survived until 1814, when it was demolished just before it collapsed: a replacement was completed in 1816. This houses the Heritage Centre, open summer weekends, where exhibits include the town's ancient archery club. The ruins are free to stroll any time.

Pleasant green space along the riverside, with the ruined facade of Eglington Castle, a Gothic confection of 1800. In 1839 a huge lavish "medieval" tournament was staged here, but the summer rains laid waste to the marquees, knights in armour, and celebrity guests including the future Emperor Napoleon III of France. The castle was simply unaffordable and went to ruin in 1925. Most of it was demolished when the grounds became a civic park in the 1970s.

Breastshot watermill built in 1614 to thresh local grain, or else! Until 1779 the Law of Thirlage required farmers to bring their grain to the local Laird's mill, a nice little monopoly, and it was the law's repeal as much as the advent of steam that brought about the demise of many mills. Dalgarven however was rebuilt in the 1880s after fire damage, and restored in the 1980s to become a museum of Ayrshire farming.