Dunure Castle was originally a 13th century stone enclosure fortress, founded by the Kennedys of Carrick. Standing south-west of Dunure harbour, its fortifications were just a simple polygonal curtain wall built around a rocky coastal promontory. In the late 14th century, a rectangular hall-house of two or three storeys was inserted within the enclosure walls, with a fore-building protecting the entrance. The castle was substantially upgraded in the late 15th century, with the hall-house being absorbed in the construction of a vaulted six storey keep. The fore-building was remodelled and a three storey range added, with the combined wall-head furnished with machicolated parapets. In a large outer walled enclosure, a chapel which was destroyed in the short siege of 1570, stood close to the entrance. After the siege, a connecting kitchen range was built over the site of the chapel but in 1694 the castle was described as 'wholly ruined'. A well-preserved 15th or 16th century beehive dovecot, stands on a knoll to the north of the castle. 2 miles east is Dunduff Castle and 6 miles south is Culzean Castle.