Kilwinning Abbey is a ruined abbey located in the centre of the town of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
History
Establishment of the Abbey
Kilwinning was a Tironensian Benedictine monastic community, named after Tiron in the diocese of Chartres. The abbey was dedicated to Saint Winning and the Virgin Mary, and founded sometime between 1162 and 1188 with monks coming from Kelso.Grose, V 2. Page 212. The patron is not known for certain, but it may have been Richard de Morville, Lord of Cunninghame and Great Constable of Scotland, perhaps with the backing and assistance of King William of Scotland. A story developed that another Sir Richard de Morville who was involved in the murder of Thomas Becket was the founder of the abbey, however despite the likelihood of the families being the same, the dates of the events make this connection impossible. A connection that does exist is the founding of Arbroath Abbey in 1178, also a Tironensian abbey, in memory of Becket by William the Lion (1165–1214).Eglinton Archives, Eglinton Country Park
The abbey, located far away in the west at a distance from the core of Lowland Scotland, is not very well recorded, and few of its records have come down to posterity as the chartulary has been destroyed or lost. In 1571 the records are said to have been carried away by "a furious horseman", following an attack upon the abbey. In 1591 William Melville took legal action against Jean Blair or Cunninghame, widow of Alexander Cunninghame to force the return of the records, but they were not forthcoming.Bayne, Page 38 Timothy Pont in the 17th century claimed to have studied the abbey's chartulary, possibly at Eglinton Castle; certainly the seal of the monastery was preserved at the castle.Dobie, Page 259 At the beginning of the 17th century they had been seen in the possession of the Earl of Eglinton until they were loaned to the Ayrshire and Galloway Archaeological Society who were preparing a publication that was never published.
It is significant that Kilwinning Abbey was not founded by a monarch and its beginnings were accordingly less grand than would have otherwise been the case.
An early legend tells of Saint Winning sending his monks to fish in the River Garnock, however no matter how hard they tried or how long they persevered they could catch nothing. The saint in response placed a curse on the river, preventing it from ever having fish in its waters; according to legend, the river responded by changing course and thereby avoiding the curse. It is clear that the river has substantially changed its course in recorded history, previously having entered the sea at Stevenston, Ardeer therefore being an island at that time. Blaeu's map printed in 1654 shows this.Billings - Kilwinning Abbey, p. 1
The area of Kilwinning on the East bank of the River Garnock is still known as Corsehill in memory of the cross that used to be placed there to welcome pilgrims visiting Saint Winning's shrine and as a place for prayer.Dobie, Page 269
The historian John Smith records that Corsehillmuir was the site of the ecclesiastical execution by burning of witches in the 17th century, and the hanging of other types of condemned criminals from the barony.Smith, Page 61 Corsehillmuir also have been the site of the old churchyard of Segdoune or Kilwinning.Ker, Page 161
King Robert II granted the abbey a charter, erecting all the lands of the Barony of Kilwinning into a free regality, with full jurisdiction. They received ratifications of this charter from Robert III and James IV. King James IV visited the abbey in 1507, making an offering of 14s. to its relics.Gazetteer of Scotland. Accessed : 2009-12-06
The abbot was the ecclesiastical baron of the baronies held by the abbey and this gave the rights of 'pit and gallows', the right to hold baronial courts and other duties. The 'Court Hill' at Gateside, North Ayrshire was the 'caput' for the Barony of Beith held by the abbots. A site at Bridgend near the Segdon Inn may have been the location of the 'Court Hill' of Kilwinning.
Abbots and commendators
The list of the Kilwinning abbots starts with Rainer, 1190; Nigellus, 1201–10; John, 1214–26; William, 1280; Bernard, 1296-1307; William Daunant, 1335; William de Deyn, 1344; John of Dalgarno, 1344–67; Robert, 1361–70; John, 1383–84; Roger, 1400-1408; Adam Spark, 1407–39; William Boyd, 1443–74; William Bunsh or Bunche, 1474–1513, killed at the Battle of Flodden; John Foreman, 1512–13; James Beaton, 1513–26; Alexander Hamilton, 1527–45; Henry Sinclair, 1545–50; Gavin Hamilton, 1550-71.Dobie, Pages 260-262
The commendators in theory held the lands and properties in the usually temporary absence of abbots, however the reality of the Reformation effectively terminated such arrangements and the aristocracy 'fought over' the opportunity to acquire revenues, lands and properties. The 'roasting of the Commendator' of Crossraguel Abbey at Dunure Castle in 1570 by Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassilis is a case in point.
MetcalfeMetcalfe, Page 88 records that in 1552, Hugh, third Earl of Eglinton, was made Commendator of the monastery, and had the office of chamberlain, justiciary, and bailie of all the lands belonging to that monastery. Dobie's list starts with Alexander Cunninghame, 1571–91; William Melville, 1591–1615; John Spottiswood, 1615-1639; Andrew, Bishop of Argyll, 1621. After these times of unsettled religious conditions the lands passed back to the Earls of Eglinton following his purchase of the lands, offices, and rights.Dobie, Page 266
In about 1470 James III granted the right to the Abbots of Kilwinning to hold Chamberlain Courts on one privileged acre of land between the Corsehill Burn and Bridgend.
The Abbots of Kilwinning held a townhouse in Glasgow in the Drygate.Ness, page 23
Revenues
In addition to churches within Kilwinning, the abbey had revenues from thirteen other parish churches in Cunninghame, giving sixteen in all. The abbey also held lands at Monkcastle and Monkredding. Monkcastle served as the country residence of the abbots.Campbell, Page 205 In the reign of Robert III, Sir William Cunninghame of Kilmaurs gave the lands of Grange in Kilmarnock to the monks. John de Menteth, Lord of Annan and Knapdale gave the monks the right of patronage to the churches of Saint Mary and Saint Bridget on Arran in 1337. The chapel of Saint Bridget also covered the lands at Portencross and West Kilbride, which was established as a separate Parish in 1567.
The monks held Granges, such as the one at Beith, given to the abbey by Sir William de CunninghameMetcalfe, Page 122 and those of Craignaught. This ownership involved the monks in extensive agricultural activities. Details of the rents from farms show a considerable annual production of cheese in particular, 268 in one year alone.Paterson, Page 480 The monks may also have been involved in the mining of coal, especially for the production of sea salt from saltpans at places such as Saltcoats.Hall, Pages 29 - 32
The Barony of Beith had been given to the Kilwinning monks by Richard de Morville's wife towards the end of the 12th century. The monks court hill as ecclesiastical barons, is still in existence and the abbey's farm or Grange was at Grangehill.Hall, Page 135 Local legend has it that Kerelaw Castle was a palace of the abbots of Kilwinning.
Such a wealthy establishment was a great attraction to the aristocracy and it is recorded that the Earls of Glencairn and Angus joined forces as early as 1512, entered the abbey precincts, and tried to physically force Abbot William Bunche (Bunsh) to resign in favour of the preceptor of Glasgow, John Forman.
The revenues of the abbey were calculated in the 1860s as being then equivalent to £20,000,Dobie, Page 267 or well over 2 million in modern terms (2008),Relative Values. Accessed : 2009-12-09 being derived a variety of sources, including the Parishes and churches of Irvine, Kilmarnock, Loudoun Kirk, Dalry, Ardrossan, Kilbirnie, West Kilbride, Dunlop, Stevenston, Beith, Dreghorn, Dumbarton, South and North Knapdale, Kilmory and Kilbride. In the 1540s the abbey had seventeen monks.Kilwinning Past & Present, Section 2, Page 2.7 In the case of Loudoun Kirk, James, son of Lambinus, established the church before 1189. James, a member of a Flemish family, at or soon after its foundation, gave the revenues of Loudoun Kirk, to support the monks of the then newly founded Kilwinning Abbey, and in return a priest (curate) was provided to attend to the spiritual needs of the parishioners.History of Loudoun Kirk Retrieved : 2010-12-27
The practice at one time of assigning the revenues of parishes to middlemen, who paid a fixed sum to the abbot, was the cause of much disagreement and dissatisfaction. These middle or tacksmen were free to obtain what monies they could for their own benefit.Bayne, Page 47
The abbots held a town house in Irvine known as Lople on the High Street and another adjacent property.Strawhorn, Page 18
In 1566 the last Roman Catholic vicar of Dunlop, John Houston, with the permission of Gavin Hamilton, commendator of Kilwinning Abbey, granted the church lands of Dunlop to William Cunninghame of Aiket. He kept an acre of land at the manse for his use and for the use of his successors.
Destruction of the abbey
The Earls of Glencairn and Angus had plundered the abbey in 1513 and George Wishart's supporters did some damage in the 1540s. However still more determined action was in 1559, when the Earl of Glencairn led a raid on the abbey during which pictures, statues, books, vestments, and all other images were said to have been taken to the Abbey Green and burned. In 1562, Alexander, Earl of Glencairn is believed to have assaulted the abbey, supposedly at the instigation of John Knox and the Scottish Protestant Reformation; Knox's 'battle cry' being Pull down the nests and the rooks will fly away.Bayne, Page 49 It is said that ornamental tombs were broken up and some graves dug up; stained glass windows were broken up, especially those bearing the images of the Virgin Mary or saints.Kilwinning Past & Present In Kilwinning as elsewhere, the local aristocracy no doubt exploited the situation to grab as much of the church's property and land as possible, something that had in fact been happening before the Reformation, as indicated by the plundering of 1513.
Knox may have referred to the 'casting down' of abbeys etc, but this did not mean that they were physically destroyed, merely overthrown, as the reformers needed some of them as parish churches, though some of them were certainly vandalised as Kilwinning may well have been. However Kilwinning Abbey, like other pre-Reformation religious houses did not fall into ruin due to the actions of the Reformers. Those that had not already been destroyed by English armies fell into ruin simply because they no longer had the revenues and rents to support them from their wider lands. The required buildings were now only parish churches and small parishes, like Kilwinning, could not afford to maintain such large properties. Wind and weather did most of the damage thereafter, though much of Kilwinning Abbey was still standing by the time Timothy Pont visited Scotland in the early 17th century. The structure of this monastery," says Pont, "was solid and grate, all of freestone cutte, the church fair and staitly after ye modell of yat of Glasgow, with a fair steiple of 7 score foote of height, yet standing quhen I myselve did see it."