This postcard is located in Kilwinning, which has grown to be one of the larger cities in Scotland, with a population of 16,000 people as of 2018.(Kilwinning Heritage).  Kilwinning was made into a major center by the Benedictian monks during the medieval time period.  It was originally believed to have developed from a small settlement, Segdoune, to the east of the River Garnock (Kilwinning Heritage).  There were many settlements that developed, like this one, from the influence of the Benedictian Monks.  They built monasteries in secluded areas near rivers so that they would not be distracted by the world, and instead focus on praying for the people (Marilyn and Cothren).  It is believed that the Abbey Church, a type of monastery, was built over the site of a celtic church that was built by Saint Winning (Kilwinning Heritage).  ‘Kil’ in the name Kil-winning has a celtic origin, the Celts used it at the beginning of names of places which were often burial sites.  The second part of the name is often then made up of that saints name, in this case Kil-winning is derived from Saint Winning (Gazetter of Scotland).

The Abbey in Kilwinning was built between 1140 C.E. and 1191 C.E. (Kilwinning Heritage) and originally had a westover end, a west end consisting of two towers.  The towers were not very stable, as they were very open on the inside allowing for little support.  One of the towers fell at an early date, and the other had many cracks in it by the beginning of the 1800’s.  These cracks lead to a large section of a corner collapsing and the rest of the structure being deemed unsavable.  In 1814, the tower was blown up and the clock tower that is seen in this postcard was erected by 1816. The top most points of the tower were damaged and removed by storms in the 1960’s (Kilwinning Heritage). The buildings seen in this postcard, that are up against the rebuilt Abbey church’s walls, were built from the rubble material of the destroyed parts of the Abbey.  These buildings form the Abbey Green, the setting of this postcard, that survived in this way up until the 1960’s (Kilwinning Heritage).