Burns Walk at Lincluden Abbey, Dumfries

This photograph was part of the first group of images of locations associated with Robert Burns to be made specifically for website use. It was taken using a 'conventional' SLR camera (not digital) on 35mm colour transparency film. The film was then sent to a photolab for processing; on its return the frames to be used were selected and these were sent back to the photolab for digitisation. They were written to a Photo CD Portfolio II disk as .pcd files, which was then passed to the Scottish Cultural Resources Access Network for uploading to their website. In all the images moved through the postal system five times.   This is an image of  Burns Walk at Lincluden Abbey, Dumfries. When Robert Burns exchanged the role of farmer for that of Exciseman he moved with his family from Ellisland Farm into a tenement flat in Bank Street, Dumfries. He developed the habit of taking walks along the banks of the River Nith, perhaps to replace the outdoor life he had previously led.   Lincluden Abbey, a picturesque mediaeval ruin close to the town captured the poet's imagination. It is situated on rising ground above the Cluden Water, a tributary which joins the west bank of the River Nith.   It was here that Burns wrote the song, "Ca the Yowes to the Knowes", which features the Cluden and Lincluden Abbey. In September 1794 he wrote to George Thomson, his publisher, "In a solitary stroll which I took today, I tried my hand on a few pastoral lines. Here it is".