Burns Monument, Kay Park

In 1877, at an anniversary meeting honouring Burns at the George Inn Hall in Kilmarnock, it was decided that a lasting memorial to the poet should be built in the town.   After appealing to the public, £2,488 was collected in just 18 months, a massive amount for the time. With such resources to work with it was agreed that the memorial should take the form of an ornamental building and museum as well as a statue.   The local architects James and Robert Ingram, were chosen to design the building, while a competition to design a statue which was to be incorporated was won by W.G. Stevenson, a sculptor from Edinburgh.   Unveiled to a huge crowd in 1879, the building was in the Scottish Baronial style and consisted of two storeys and an eighty foot tower built from red sandstone. The museum held the extensive collection of Burnsiana of James McKie which is now part of the collections held by the museum service of East Ayrshire Council.   The focal point of the park, the monument was unfortunately destroyed by fire in November 2004. The town is now building a replacement. It will be a different design but it is hoped that it will retain some original features.