Every January, Scotland’s national bard Robert Burns is celebrated around the world, and the Best Life (Arts and Museums) team at East Ayrshire Leisure Trust are proud to be the custodians of a significant amount of material connected to him, especially objects that reflect his time in this area.

Our most important material includes complete and partial manuscripts in Burns’ own hand, such as Tam O’ Shanter, The Twa Dugs, and The Holy Fair; elegies, obituaries, and commissioned verses and letters written for many of his contemporaries; and his own correspondence which shows how well-connected he was in society.

Burns was born in Alloway in South Ayrshire in 1759, and came to live in Mauchline in 1784. He spent several years in the town before moving to Dumfries, and the building which is now the Burns House Museum was where he first lived with Jean Armour after marrying her in 1788, and two of their children were born there.

He was particularly friendly with Dr John Mackenzie (c.1755-1837), a Scottish army surgeon who met Burns when he attended the poet’s father at Lochlea Farm in 1783, and leased the room in the Mauchline house to Robert and Jean. After Burns moved to Mossgiel Farm, they became close friends and Mackenzie was immortalised in The Holy Fair. Mackenzie was also married to Helen Miller, one of Burns’ ‘Mauchline Belles’.

‘Auld Nanse Tinnock’s’, known before Burns time as ‘The Sorn Inn’, stands in Castle Street, Mauchline, and overlooks the parish church. It once had a stairway leading down to the churchyard, made well known by Burns as the setting of The Holy Fair. Nanse Tinnock herself was described by Burns as one of his Mauchline hostesses in whose establishment he enjoyed ‘a glass of gude auld Scotch Drink’, and the Dick Institute holds a plate reportedly given to Nanse to replace one that he broke.

The collection also includes objects which belonged to or were connected to friends and acquaintance of Burns, and a wide range of material inspired by his work (Burnsiana). A special highlight is the McKie Collection, gathered by the Kilmarnock-based publisher James McKie (1816-1891), which consists of manuscripts, books, paintings and scrapbooks. McKie was also the main fundraiser for the Kay Park Burns Monument, and printed the first edition of Burns’ Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Kilmarnock Edition) in 1786 – a copy of which is preserved in the Dick Institute, along with a replica of McKie’s printing press.

You can see some of the collection on display at the Burns House Museum in Mauchline, the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, and more on www.futuremuseum.co.uk.

In celebration of the Bard's birthday, Loanhead Primary School will visit Burns House Museum on Friday 24th to take part in our Burns Education Workshop. The pupils will be dressing up in costumes from Burns' era and viewing objects from the collections in Burns House. In the afternoon they'll be in the Church Hall bringing the poem Tam O'Shanter to life through the expressive arts and creating Tam O'Shanter shadow puppets, with the team, to take away with them. 

Also boasting a Burns connection, discover Ayrshire Through the Eyes of Jack Rigg: A Road Well Travelled is now open at Cumnock's Baird Institute. Continuing until April the evocative collection of oil landscapes captures the historic journey between Mossgiel near Mauchline and Ellisland near Dumfries—a route famously travelled by Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns.  Rooted in Ayrshire since 1954, Jack Rigg’s lifelong connection to Scotland’s landscapes and history shines through his work.  Blending technical precision with storytelling each painting invites viewers to imagine the narratives within.

Visitors are warmly invited to the opening event at Baird Institute on Thursday 23rd January, from 5:00 - 6:30pm, where you can meet the artist and learn more about the stories behind his work.