River Afton
The River Afton (or Afton Water) is a small river in Ayrshire. It flows from its source on Alwhat Hill in the Carsphairn Hills, northwards through Afton Reservoir and then for eight miles down Glen Afton before joining the River Nith at New Cumnock.
New Cumnock in the Afton area was the scene of the Knockshinnoch Disaster in 1950, the sorrowful events of which are recorded on a memorial erected by the river, and likewise the rescue of their fellows:
- "To remember Knockshinnoch 1950. The peat valley ahead broke through into the pit killing 13 miners & trapping 116. Wearing oxygen masks the trapped miners were rescued on the 3rd day."
Poem
The river is memorialised in Robert Burns's poem of 1791, Sweet Afton[1] and this led to a number of townships in the United States being called Afton.
Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang thy green braes,
Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise;
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
Thou stockdove whose echo resounds thro' the glen,
Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den,
Thou green-crested lapwing thy screaming forbear,
I charge you, disturb not my slumbering Fair.
How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills,
Far mark'd with the courses of clear, winding rills;
There daily I wander as noon rises high,
My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.
How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,
Where, wild in the woodlands, the primroses blow;
There oft, as mild Ev'ning weeps over the lea,
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.
Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,
As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave.
Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes,
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.
