Burns Cottage, the first home of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

is located in

Alloway Alloway ( gd, Allmhaigh, ) is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland, located on the River Doon. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns and the setting for his poem "Tam o' Shanter". Tobias Bachope, the mason responsible for the cons ...

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was built by his father, William Burness in 1757. Burns, Scotland's

national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbo ...

, was born there on 25 January 1759. It is a two-roomed clay and thatch cottage and has been fully restored to become part of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. The museum has a bust of Burns by

Patric Park Patric Park (born 12 February 1811, Glasgow; died 16 August 1855, Warrington) was a Scottish sculptor. Life He was the son of Matthew Park, a mason from a long line of masons, in Glasgow. At age 14, he was apprenticed to Edinburgh mason John C ...

History

The cottage has had a number of uses, including a spell as a pub, run by a Mr Goudie from

Riccarton Riccarton may refer to: New Zealand * Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch ** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it ** The location of Riccarton Race Course * a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago Scotlan ...

who saw the opportunity to exploit Burns's developing reputation. At first therefore the cottage was not greatly valued. The Suffragettes recognised its importance, having once endeavoured to set the cottage alight. In 1818, the English poet

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

took a trip to Scotland to visit the home, years after Burns' death in 1796. Before Keats arrived, he wrote to a friend that "one of the pleasantest means of annulling self is approaching such a shrine as the cottage of Burns — we need not think of his misery — that is all gone — bad luck to it — I shall look upon it all with unmixed pleasure." but his encounter with the cottage's alcoholic custodian returned him to thoughts of misery.

Pictures

File:BurnsCottageOldestKnownEngraving.jpg, Oldest known engraving, 1805 File:BurnsCottageInteriorBedsCirca1904.jpg, Bedroom File:BurnsCottageInteriorInclFireplaceCirca1904.jpg, Kitchen File:BurnsCottagePlan1904.jpg, Plan and Elevation view File:BurnsCottageCrossSection.jpg, Cross section File:BurnsCottageAdditionUntil1902.jpg, View of cottage with an addition, torn down in 1902 File:BurnsCottageBackViewCirca1904.jpg, Back of cottage in 1904, showing then-new museum building File:BurnsCottageMuseumInteriorCirca1904.jpg, Interior of museum, 1904

References

External links

Burns Cottage

Pictures of Burns Cottage, Alloway
B Literary museums in Scotland Biographical museums in Scotland Burns, Robert Buildings and structures in Ayr Cottages {{Scotland-struct-stub

History

Pictures

See also

References

External links