Burns Monument, Mauchline

Mauchline stands on gentle slopes about one and a half kilometres from the River Ayr in East Ayrshire. The town grew beside the railway line linking Kilmarnock and Ayr, eight and eleven miles away respectively. Nearby lochs were drained long ago, first for the railway and later for farmland. The parish once reached as far as Lanarkshire, where Cistercian monks built an abbey whose ruins are still known as Hunters Tower. The village played a part in the Scottish Reformation. George Wishart preached here in 1544 despite barred church doors, and John Knox returned in 1599. Mauchline later became a Covenanter stronghold, with skirmishes and executions recorded in the 17th century. The Battle of Mauchline Muir in 1648 left a Covenanters’ flag still kept in the church. Robert Burns lived at Mossgiel Farm on the village edge from 1784. Many of his best-known poems were written there, including To a Mouse and Holy Willie’s Prayer. The kirkyard holds graves of his friends and rivals, marked by a plaque added long after his time. Nearby Ballochmyle Park recalls the poet’s meeting with Wilhelmina Alexander, inspiration for The Bonnie Lass of Ballochmyle.