Church of Winning [Kilwinning]

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Hughie
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Church of Winning [Kilwinning]

Post by Hughie »

From 'The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald' supplement "Auld Kilwinning"
1992. Attributed to the Kilwinning and District Preservation Society.
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Church of Winning
Kilwinning means 'Church of Winning' and is named after the saint who
brought Christianity to the area. Little evidence remains to provide
details of his identity, deeds and dates, however, there remains a piece
of Celtic cross said to have been erected by Winning in honour of St
Brigit outside the church which he built on the present site of
Kilwinning Abbey. This fragment is preserved in the North Ayrshire
Museum, Saltcoats, though unfortunately no trace of the original church
or settlement survives.

Much evidence about Winning comes from written sources, but these raise
questions about how much is actual history and how much is romanticised
legend. One famous old book, the Aberdeen Breviary, tells us that
Winning, was 'of a pious turn of mind'. With some similar young men he
built a vessel, set to sea and let Providence guide him. Winning landed
at the mouth of the Garnock and, on a site chosen by God, set up a
religious settlement.

As to the dates of his life, adam king's Kallendar, published in Paris
in 1566, states that St Winning died in the year 715, probably on
January 21, since that date became his feast day. But another theory
associates Winning with St Finden of Moxville, who carried out
missionary work in ireland and Western Scotland in the sixth century and
is also supposed to have been the techer of St Columba. St Finden died
in the year 579 and it is said he was buried in Kilwinning.

The Rev Lee Ker's excellent 1900 publication 'Kilwinning' has this to
say about the saint:
"The name Kilwinning replaced the older name Segdoune. Its origin is
associated with the advent of St Winning. Whoever this saint was, from
whatever land he came, no-one gives a later date for his planting an
Abbey at Segdoune on the banks of the Garnock than 875 AD. while most
agree in saying that it could not be later than 714 AD.

"Who Winnen, or vinnen or Fillan was, no-one can precisely tell. perhaps
it may even be a mistake to associate the dawn of true religious light
in the district with the advent of St Winning.

"It would not be wild to conjecture that before his coming some
wandering missionaries may have visited the heathen hill people on the
banks of the Garnock. With St Ninian working in Wigtownshire, St Mungo
preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of ancient Glasgow and St
Columba wandering everywhere, especially about the west coast, it seems
quite natural to imagine that the dwellers of Segdoune would attract the
attention of the itinerant Gospellers of Caledonia."
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