The Globe Inn Close, Dumfries, 1999

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 of the close leading to the Globe Inn, off the High Street, showing the approach from Shakespeare Street. When Robert Burns came to live in Dumfries in 1791, the Globe Inn was one of the more fashionable public houses of the town. The landlords at that time were the Hyslop family, and Burns soon became a regular customer, mentioning them by name in several poems and letters.   In the upstairs bedroom two small window panes still bear inscriptions by the poet, whilst other poems connected with the inn are, "At the Globe Tavern" and "Lines Written on Windows of the Globe Tavern". Obviously the Hyslop family were tolerant of this vandalism by their literary guest!   As the reputation of the Globe Inn as Burn's "howff" in Dumfries grew, it became an attraction for those visiting Burns' haunts in and around the town. In the 1940s it was purchased by M H McKerrow who was President of the Burns Federation and a life long Burns enthusiast in order to preserve its associations with the poet.