Magic Lantern Slide with Photograph of Burns Cottage, Alloway

"Birthplace of Burns, near Ayr" a colour tinted photographic image of the cottage in which Robert Burns was born.   Robert Burns was born at Alloway, near Ayr, on the 25th January 1759, the eldest of seven children of Agnes and William Burnes. His father was a market gardener, who having acquired a small holding of land, had built this cottage, with its whitewashed clay walls and thatched roof, with his own hands.   The poet's father sold the cottage in 1781 and it was used as a public house until May 1881. By this time it had become a place of pilgrimage for Burns enthusiasts from around the world. It was purchased for £4,000 by the Trustees of the Burns Monument and opened to the public.   Burns' birthplace and the Burns Monument Gardens at Alloway were a  landmark for those visiting "Burns' Country" in the latter part of the 19th Century; hence the inclusion of this magic lantern slide in a presentation on "A Night with Burns".