‘… a Moniment tae mind o the Ayrshire Bard, whaur he souched his furst braith, an in the airt whaur his genius wis reart an git muckle…. shall be pit up at or nearaboot the Place o his Burth.’ [Furst meenit o Burns Moniment Trust, 24 Merch 1814]
Nae mair thin 20 year eftir Burns’s daith, a comatee mak’d up o some o his maist vauntie follaers stertit tae mak plans tae big a memorial tae the michtie bard.
The ootcome is yon 21m (70ft) heich Grecian-style temple, designed by Sir Thomas Hamilton Junior an feenished aff wi nine pillars staunin fir the muses fae Greek mythology.
The siller fir the moniment wis hized by subscreeptions an apened in 1823. Thaur’s nae admeesion fee fir the moniment an gairdens, but tae praisent day we maun keep hizin siller tae uphaud this michty memorial fir aabody tae tak pleesure in.
Jist alang fae the moniment in the gairdens is a wee stookie eemage hoose, shawin saunstane eemages o Souter Johnnie an Nance Tinnock, craftit by sel-tocht sculptor James Thom.
Ye cin sclimb up the moniment stair tae tak in the bonnie vizzies o Alloway an aa the ithir airts, an thin tak a cantie wee dauner roon the braw landscaped gairdens. Here, the rose is yin o the foremaist features, in homage tae Burns’s faur kent poem.