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Kilwinning Abbey ruins, North Ayrshire. Photo by daswede.

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Kilwinning Abbey

Kilwinning Abbey is situated at Kilwinning town, in North Ayrshire. It was built around 1162 to 1187 by Tironensian monks. They came from Kelso Abbey. This was under the patronage of Richard De Moville.

There was a church at the site 400 years earlier. It had been built by St. Winning and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The abbey was built on the same site. It was named Kilwinning. It is Gaelic for 鈥楥hurch of Winning.鈥�

The only surviving evidence of the old church is a 10^th-century cross. It is preserved at North Ayrshire Heritage Centre for public viewing.

 The Abbey now lays in ruins with the surviving parts being the south transept and the great west doorway. It is a tourist attraction. Here are the top 10 interesting facts about Kilwinning Abbey.

1. It was built by monks

Seal of Richard de Morville, Constable of Scotland. Photo by Laing, H (1950).

Kilwinning Abbey, unlike most other abbeys, was not built by a monarch. Its foundations were, therefore, less grand in comparison. The monks who built it came from Kelso Abbey. Kilwinning Abbey became its daughter- house.

Their patron is uncertain but Richard de Morville appears in many texts as the possible founder. He was Lord of Cunningham and Constable of Scotland. The abbey was dedicated to St. Winning who had previously built a church on the same site, and Virgin Mary.

2. The Abbey’s construction site is connected to the 17^th-century witch trials

A woodcut illustrating an execution of a condemned witch by burning at the stake. Photo by mullica.

The area of Kilwinning is said to have been the same site where the execution of witches took place.

 It is called Corsehillmuir, named in memory of the cross that was put there to welcome visitors to St. Winning’s shrine.

Historian John Smith recounts that Corsehillmuir was where witches were burned and condemned criminals hanged.

3. Kilwinning Abbey’s old tower was used as a prison

Kilwinning Abbey Tower. Photo by Rosser1954.

One of the people imprisoned at the tower was Bessie Graham in 1649. She had been accused of witchcraft.

During an argument with her neighbor, bystanders interpreted Bessie’s words as a curse. A few days later, the neighbor died. A witch finder, ruled that from her conduct  she was indeed a witch. She was burned at the stake at Corsehillmuir.

The tower bells were used to gather people in times of war. The tower was reconstructed several times and demolished in 1814 as it posed a risk of collapse.

 In 1816, it was replaced with a 103-meter tall clock. A conservation program was done in 1993 by local authorities. The tower is now the property of the North Ayrshire council.

4. The Abbey had a mysterious well

It is said that the well was made of St. Winning’s tears. The well provided pure water. It was located south of the manse, which is off St. Kilwinning road. It existed in the 1860s. The construction of a railway in the area led to its destruction.

Another well blessed by the saint is known to have turned red on occasions such as war.

5. Kilwinning Abbey was plundered

In 1513, the earls of Glencairn and Angus raided the abbey, causing destruction. In 1559, the Earl of Glencairn led an assault on the Abbey. Considerable damage was done. Books, pictures, statues, vestments, and images were burned.

 The chaotic era saw many abbeys’, lands, and properties plundered by the aristocrats. Legend goes that a monk at Kilwinning cursed those stealing from the abbey and called upon St. Winning for vengeance. Shortly after, the saint’s statue fell and killed 3 of the earl’s men.

6. It was destroyed during the Scottish Protestant Reformation

Scottish Reformer John Knox preaching the funeral sermon for leading opponent of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Earl of Moray. Photo by CPClegg.

This was led by John Knox. A wave of criticism of Catholic doctrines and practices had swept across the country. Reformists sprout, attacking catholic establishments.

 In 1562, the Earl of Glencairn attacked the abbey, instigated by John Knox’s battle cry to 鈥減ull down the nests and the rooks will fly away.鈥�

 Stained glass windows with images of the Virgin Mary were shattered and destroyed. Some graves at the abbey were dug up and ornamental tombs were broken.

 The Abbey is recorded to have been in a deplorable state by 1591. Parts of the abbey were, however, reconstructed. The bell tower in the North West collapsed in 1814 and was replaced by the present clock.

7. Some of Kilwinning Abbey’s remains were used in the construction of Eglinton Castle

Eglinton Castle ruins, Kilwinning, North Ayrshire. Photo by Scotia.

Much of the abbey’s stonework was used in building the Eglinton Castle. Stones from the abbey were used in its buildings and the deer park wall.

 The dovecot at the castle has carvings originally from the abbey.  The stables were also built from dressed stone blocks taken from the abbey.

8. The writer of the Declaration of Arbroath is buried at the Abbey

Statue of Bernard de Linton (then Abbot of Arbroath) and Robert the Bruce holding the Declaration of Arbroath aloft. Photo by Karen Vernon.

Bernard Linton  of Kilwinning was the writer of the famous words contained in the letter from the Scottish Assembly to Pope John the 22^nd. They are generally termed as the declaration of Arbroath.

It was a reply from King Robert 1 for his excommunication after turning down the pope’s request for a truce with England during the First War of Scottish Independence. It asserted Scotland’s refusal to give up their independence to England.

The declaration reads in part, 鈥�For we fight, not for glory, nor for riches, nor for honour, but only and alone for freedom, which no good man gives up but with his life.” 

He is buried in a vault beneath the abbey according to ‘ The Isle of Man Chronicles.’

9. Kilwinning Abbey is associated with a dark Ardeer legend

It is rumored that during the period of Reformation, the Earl of Eglinton visited the abbey church and announced his disbelief in the miracles being performed. He was a follower of the reformist John Knox.

 The then abbot of the Abbey, Nigellus, ordered his monks to capture the Earl’s wife which they did. They kidnapped her and starved her to death as revenge for her husband’s blasphemy. Her maid was drowned in a river near the Abbey.

 It is rumored that to this day, the screams of a woman are heard crashing through the waves near the Abbey. A confession of this heinous act by the last monk could have been the only way the Earl’s wife’s disappearance was solved.

10. Some of Kilwinning Abbey’s treasures were never found

During the 1562 assault on the abbey by Earl of Glencairn, the Black Book of the Abbey, gold candlesticks, silver cups, and crosses were not found. According to local tradition, they were hidden in a vault underneath the Abbey. They lie there to date.