Kilwinning (/kɪlˈwɪnɪŋ/, Scots: Kilwinnin; Scottish Gaelic: Cill D’Fhinnein) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

It is located on the banks of the River Garnock in Ayrshire, west/central Scotland, about 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Glasgow.

Kilwinning's neighbours are the coastal towns of Stevenston to the west and Irvine to the south while inland lies Dalry to the north.

[5] According to John Hay, once the headmaster of the parish school in Kilwinning, "North Ayrshire has a history of religion stretching back to the very beginning of missionary enterprise in Scotland.

Kilmarnock, Kilbride, Kilbirnie, are all, like Kilwinning, verbal evidence of the existence of 'Cillean' or cells of the Culdee or Celtic Church.

"[6] The original town was situated at the Bridgend and Corsehill while the other bank of the river was the site of the abbey, its outbuildings, orchards, doocot, etc.

Some scholars have associated him with the Irish saint known as St Finnian of Moville, who died in the late sixth century.

[11] If that is so, then Ninian, who was a missionary to the Picts in Scotland, and Winning, who was deemed a Scotsman in the Aberdeen Breviary, could theoretically be one and the same as the Irishman named Finnian.

The origin of the Lodge is unclear with the first documentary evidence being a mention in The Schaw Statutes of 1598 and 1599, which identify it in its first paragraph as the "heid and secund ludge of Scotland".

There existed in this period corporations or fraternities of masons, endowed with certain privileges and immunities, capable of erecting religious structures in the Gothic style.

[12] A party of these foreign masons is supposed to have come from Italy, or Cologne,[12] for the purpose of building the Abbey at Kilwinning and to have founded there the first regularly constituted Operative Lodge in Scotland.

Kilwinning rapidly expanded with new estates built on surrounding farm land to meet the planned increase in population.

Kilwinning is a diverse town as areas like Whitehirst Park and Woodside are very affluent and have very high house prices, Parts of Woodwynd also have affluent areas while parts of the town, More so Blacklands, Pennyburn and Corsehill are more working class Older residents sometimes refer to the Blacklands as the "Ironworks" after the Eglinton Iron Works which once occupied the land, the only surviving building of that time is now Nethermains Community Centre, although for many years the "slag hill" towered over the area.

Built between 1797 and 1802 in Gothic castellated style dominated by a central 100-foot (30 m) large round keep and four 70-foot (21 m) outer towers, it was second only to Culzean Castle in appearance and grandeur.

Funded and organized by Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton, the revival-medieval tournament, attracted thousands of visitors to see the combatants and the ladies in their finery.

The castle fell into disrepair after being unroofed in 1925 and was used for Commando demolition practice during World War II, the remains were demolished to the level they are today in 1973.

The mill on the banks of the River Garnock briefly fell under the ownership of Blackwood Brothers of Kilmarnock before closing entirely.

The Ancient Society of Kilwinning Archers is believed to date back to 1483 and while records are only available from 1688, there is a reference in the early minutes, which would appear to confirm this assumption.

Kilwinning Rangers have had periods of success throughout their history, and proudly boast that they were the first, and last Ayrshire Club to win the Scottish Junior Cup in the twentieth century!