Brig o' Doon

The Brig o’ Doon is a late medieval bridge that spans the River Doon in South Ayrshire. Built in the early fifteenth century, it carries the name Scots words for ‘old’ and ‘bridge’. James Kennedy is thought to have commissioned the structure, though the first written record dates from 1512. By 1593 the bridge was already described as ruinous and has needed repeated repairs. In 1978 the most recent work left many stones mismatched. A single stone arch rises steeply above the water, its humped roadway marked by a cranked line of cobbles. The bridge is best known as the scene in Robert Burns’s poem Tam o’ Shanter. Tam flees the witch Nannie on horseback and crosses the stream just in time to escape her grasp. The incident ends with Nannie seizing only the horse’s tail. The site also inspired the name of the Broadway musical Brigadoon. The bridge appears on £5 notes issued by the Bank of Scotland alongside a statue of Burns. Visitors find a narrow stone arch rising seven metres above the Doon. The roadway’s cranked cobbles were laid to hinder witches. A modern bridge built in 1816 carries the B7024 road downstream. The old bridge’s stone was once sold as a quarry but was bought back and preserved. Alloway village lies nearby, linking the bridge to Burns’s birthplace.