Kilwinning Abbey

The ruins of Kilwinning Abbey date from the 12th Century. Situated a far distance from the political heart of Lowland Scotland at the time, and alongwith the early loss of its records, mean the story of it's construction is prone to mythologising. The masons work survived well though, even recorded as mostly intact after the Scottish Protestant Reformation four hundred years later. The most ruinous event was likely lack of money for upkeep for a remote church and thence the opportunistic use of its failing stonework as a "quarry" by local townspeople and estate holders.