The Cenotaph of Burns at Alloway, steel plate engraving

This engraving was taken from an original drawing by the artist William Henry Bartlett. Set in attractive gardens on the north bank of the River Doon, the National Burns Monument was inaugurated in 1823.  It was designed by Thomas Hamilton of Edinburgh in the Grecian style.   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 smallholding of land, had built their cottage with its whitewashed clay walls and thatched roof with his own hands.   The poet's father sold the birthplace 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.