Engraving showing ' Young Robert Burns at the grave of his father'

The Poet Robert Burns was born in Alloway on 25th. January 1759 in a small two roomed thatched cottage built by his father William Burnes on a 7-acre smallholding acquired while working as a gardener for the landowner of the Doonholm estate around 1756.

When his father died, he was buried in the graveyard surrounding the Auld Kirk at Alloway which was less than a mile from his birthplace. Young Robert lived in Alloway for the first 7 years of his life and this representation of him standing over the grave of his father is a possible scene which could have taken place about 1763.

Having extended his family by the birth of 4 children William Burness moved his family from the cottage in Alloway to a farm at Mount Oliphant some 2 miles to the East in 1766. The land was poor and the family struggled to make ends meet and where the young Poet was required to spend many hours toiling in the fields with little time for schooling.

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