The River Doon ( gd, Abhainn Dhùin, ) is a river in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

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 ...

. Its course is generally north-westerly, passing near to the town of Dalmellington, and through the villages of

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

, Dalrymple, and

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 ...

, birthplace of Robert Burns. The source of the Doon is

Loch Enoch Loch Enoch is a multi-basin freshwater loch in Galloway, to the east of Merrick and south of Mullwharchar. The loch is situated in a granite basin and has several small islands and some beaches on its shore. The sharp granite sand of these bea ...

, high in the

Galloway Hills The Galloway Hills are part of the Southern Uplands of Scotland, and form the northern boundary of western Galloway. They lie within the bounds of the Galloway Forest Park, an area of some of largely uninhabited wild land, managed by Forestry an ...

. In the 1930s the Loch Doon was dammed to provide water to the

Galloway Hydro Electric Scheme The Galloway hydro-electric power scheme is a network of dams and hydro-electric power stations in Galloway, south west Scotland. It was built between 1930 and 1936. The generating stations draw water from the River Ken, River Dee and River D ...

, today operated by Scottish Power. The Doon is mentioned in Burns' classic narrative poem " Tam o' Shanter", along with the

Brig o' Doon The Brig o' Doon, sometimes called the Auld Brig or Old Bridge of Doon, is a late medieval bridge in Ayrshire, Scotland, and a Category A structure. History The word ''brig'' is Scots for "bridge", hence the ''Brig o' Doon'' is the "Bridge ...

, which spans across the river, just outside Alloway. The river is also the major setting for his lesser-known poem " The Banks O' Doon".

External links

River Doon
at the Ayrshire Rivers Trust Doon Doon {{Scotland-river-stub