Alloway

Alloway
Ayrshire
The Brig o' Doon, Alloway
Location
Grid reference:	NS333184
Location:	55°25’48"N, 4°38’10"W
Data
Post town:	Ayr
Postcode:	KA7
Dialling code:	01292
Local Government
Council:	South Ayrshire
Parliamentary constituency:	Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock

Alloway is a village in Ayrshire a little south of Ayr. It is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns, and is also the setting for his poem Tam o' Shanter.

The village stands on the banks of the River Doon, a few miles from the sea, the village running contiguously into Doonfoot where the Doon enters the sea across a broad beach. Alloway is now partly contiguous with Ayr, growing into a suburb the two separated by narrow parks and a golf course.

The Brig o' Doon, a late mediæval bridge, crosses the Doon in the south of the village. It is celebrated in the climax of Burns's Tam o' Shanter. The bridge was rebuilt in the 18th century. The Burns monument is nearby.

Alloway Public Hall was built in 1849 as the local primary school, a function it fulfilled until 1896 when a new school was opened. The Hall was bought by Lord Glentanar, who lived close to the village on the Belleisle Estate and he dedicated it for use by the residents. In 1922 the Coats family gave the Hall to a Board of Trustees and it remains in trustees' hands serving as a community centre.

Robert Burns

Burns Cottage

In the heart of the village lies the birthplace of Robert Burns, known as Burns Cottage and the adjacent museum. Here are displayed original manuscripts in the poet's own hand.

Burns was born in the cottage on 25 January 1759 to William and Agnes Burness. Though he lived to just 37, his poetry in Scots and English has suffused the romantic imagination such that he has been called Scotland's greatest poet. The evening of 25 January, his birthday, is celebrated as Burns Night in places across the English-speaking world.

There is a nineteenth century memorial to Burns designed by Thomas Hamilton at the foot of the village next to the church. Robert Burns' father, William Burns, is buried in the Auld Kirk. At night, green lights are illuminated over the Auld Kirk, adding to its ghostly appearance. In addition to Burns Cottage and museum, the village has a Burns-related visitor centre.

The National Trust for Scotland has established a new purpose-built centre in Alloway:[1]

• Burns Heritage Centre
• Burns Birthplace Museum

Tam o' Shanter

Burns set his narrative poem Tam o' Shanter in Alloway. Two landmarks which play their part in the poem attract frequent tourists. The ruined Auld Kirk ("Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk") features as the scene of the witches' dance.

The Brig o' Doon is in the setting for the poem's final verse in which Tam on horseback escapes the Nannie the witch by crossing the bridge, which the witch cannot as she cannot pass over a running stream.

Parish Church

The Auld Kirk

The Auld Kirk, of uncertain date, lies in ruins. The parish lost its autonomy in 1690, annexed to the Auld Kirk of Ayr during the Presbyterian reorganisation of the Church of Scotland. Worship continued but by the 1740s it was also being used as a school and by 1790 it had fallen into such a ruinous state that Robert Burns could characterise it in "Tam O' Shanter" as "Alloway's Auld Haunted Kirk". Burns himself had been baptised in 1759 not in the Kirk but in the cottage just along the road. His father is buried in the churchyard at Alloway Kirk.

The current parish church (Church of Scotland) was build by a public subscription raised in 1856. It was opened for worship on the 10th October 1858 and in 1859 the first minister was called there to re-establish worship within the Church of Scotland at Alloway. The building originally was rectangular, with a north transept only but was altered to its present shape by additions in 1878 and 1890. The suite of halls beyond the churchyard was erected in 1965, the session house in 1977 and the octagonal hall in 1987.

Public Parks

There are two main parks in Alloway. The first, Rozelle, hosts Ayr Flower Show each summer and has an art gallery which holds various exhibitions throughout the year. It also has an interesting permanent sculpture collection which include a Henry Moore and a series of granite carvings by Ronald Rae. Belleisle Park, houses a golf course, walled garden, Camelia House, and playground.

Sport

Cambusdoon New Ground is found in Alloway on the former Robertson's Field and has played host to a number of Scotland Cricket Internationals, as well as being the home of Ayr Cricket Club, founded in 1859, since 1996, when they moved across the road from the original Cambusdoon ground. Ayr Cricket Club had moved from the Dam Park to the original Cambusdoon ground in 1935, and was their home for 60 years until sold for housing in 1995. The original cricket ground, which hosted two first-class matches (Scotland v Ireland in 1958 and 1974), was developed on the grounds of the former Cambusdoon Estate, once owned by 19th Century Iron and Coal magnate, James Baird. Baird's original Cambusdoon House, now a ruin, was converted to a boys' preparatory school in the late 1920s, and the rest of the estate surrounding the cricket ground was developed for housing in the late 1930s. The former England cricket captain Mike Denness grew up in one of these houses, on Shanter Way, which adjoined the cricket ground. Ayr Hockey Club also play out of the Cambusdoon ground, on a purpose-built floodlit astroturf pitch, which is also used for 5-a-side and 11-a-side football. There is also a bowling green, with the Cricket Club, Hockey Club and Bowling Club under the umbrella Cambusdoon Sports Club title.

Also in Alloway is Millbrae, the home of Ayr Rugby Club since 1964. It is located behind the Monument and gardens.

Outside links

• Alloway Parish Church
• Alloway and Doonfoot Community Council