The site seems to have been occupied in the eighth century by an Irish monk called St. Winnan, who is believed to be the same as St. Finnan of Moville. On the spot sanctified by his cell, a monastery was founded in the twelfth century by Richard or Hugh Moville, said by Pont[35] to have been a knight who fled from England in consequence of his connection with the murder of Becket. He was welcomed by the King of Scotland, who created him Great Constable of the Kingdom, and presented him with the lordships of Cuninghame, Largs, and Lauderdale. But the dates are difficult to reconcile. It seems, however, that towards the end of the twelfth century a colony of Tyronensian Benedictines was imported into Kilwinning from Kelso Abbey, and, as usually happened at that period, was speedily endowed with lands and became wealthy. To judge from the style of the surviving architecture, the church must have been erected early in the thirteenth century. The south entrance doorway from the cloisters to the nave (Fig. 500), although pointed, contains some lingering Norman enrichments, while the other principal remains indicate the work of the thirteenth century. The history of the monastery is somewhat obscure. The chartulary has been lost, but the names of a number of the abbots are preserved.[36] [Illustration: FIG. 500.--Kilwinning Abbey. Doorway from Cloisters to Nave.] In the _Collections of the Archæological Association of Ayr and Wigton_ (1878) are printed a number of documents showing agreements between the monks of Kilwinning and others regarding churches and benefices. Amongst other papers there are notices of a charter by Robert I., granting to the monks fishings in Leven and Clyde; a petition by David II., showing that in consequence of wars and inroads the abbot and convent were reduced to a state of want and poverty, and granting them aid; several letters by Pope John XXII., early in the fourteenth century, confirming grants of different churches and patronages; confirmations by Robert II. and Robert III. of prior benefactions and new gifts; grants by James III. and confirmation by James IV. of certain royal grants formerly made to the abbey. An instrument narrates how, in 1512, the precincts of the abbey were invaded by the Earls of Glencairn and Angus on behalf of a rival abbot, thus showing that the monastery began to suffer from the turbulence of that period. Towards the middle of the sixteenth century the abbacy passed into the hands of commendators who, “for the utility and advantage of the said monastery,” as it was expressed, but really in order to secure as much as possible of the spoil, granted charters of the monastic lands to their lay friends and relations. Thus, in 1552, there is a confirmation by Queen Mary of a charter granted by Gavin, commendator of the abbey, in favour of Hugh, Earl of Eglinton, whereby “on the narrative of the usefulness and necessity to the said monastery