Alloway

Overview

Alloway, formerly a small village but now on the outskirts of Ayr, is the birthplace of Robert Burns (1759-96), Scotland's national poet.

The Burns Cottage and Museum marks Burns' birthplace, a low, whitewashed, thatched cottage. You can gain an impression of what the place must have been like in Burns' day with help from a museum that boasts all sorts of memorabilia: the giant family Bible, letters and manuscripts, the pistol he carried while an exciseman, a lock of his hair, plus lots of kitsch Burnsiana through the centuries.

Alloway Kirk, where Robert's father William is buried, is ten mininutes' walk away. Burns set much of Tam o Shanter here. Tam, having got drunk in Ayr, passes 'by Alloway's auld haunted kirk' and stumbles across a riotous witches' dance. The Brig o' Doon, the 13th-century hump-backed bridge over which Tam is forced to flee for his life, still stands, curving gracefully over the river. High above the river and bridge, towers the Burns Monument, a striking Neoclassical temple in a small carefully manicured garden and housing yet another museum. The Tam o' Shanter Experience, over the road from Alloway Kirk, brings Burns to life.