Saint Winning
Little is known about the man who gave his name to the town of Kilwinning. St Winning (also known as Finnan) was a Christian missionary from Ireland who came to Scotland at the end of the 7th century. He travelled through the west of Scotland, converting the locals to Christianity and establishing churches for worship. Nothing survives of his small church at Kilwinning, but it was almost certainly on the same site as the later Tironensian monastery, built in the late 12th century and dedicated to St Winning and the Virgin Mary.
St Winning died around 715 and is thought to have been buried in the churchyard at Kilwinning. In addition to the town, a number of other local places bear his name, including Caerwinning Hill, St Winning’s Well and Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire.
Kilwinning Abbey was founded on the spot of St Winning’s church by Hugh de Morville around 1150. Drawing Benedictine monks from Kelso it soon grew in stature and wealth and gained many large estates, only to fall into disrepair after the years of the Reformation. Its estates passed to the Earls of Eglinton.