Burns Cottage

Burns Cottage
Alloway Ayrshire
National Trust for Scotland
Grid reference:	NS335185
Information
Website:	http://www.burnsmuseum.org.uk/

Burns Cottage, also known as the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is the cottage in Alloway in Ayrshire where the poet Robert Burns was born. The cottage is now a museum owned by the National Trust for Scotland.

It was the first home of Robert Burns, and built by his father, William Burness in 1757. Burns was born there on 25 January 1759. It is a simple two-roomed clay and thatch cottage and has been fully restored.

History

The cottage has had a number of uses, including a spell as a pub, run by a Mr Goudie from Riccarton 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 poet John Keats took a trip to Ayrshire 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."

Outside links

• Burns Cottage
• Pictures of Burns Cottage, Alloway