Alloway (South Ayrshire)

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Alloway
Scottish Gaelic Allmhaigh
Street in the center with the Burns Monument and the Brig 'o Doon
Street in the center with the Burns Monument and the Brig 'o Doon
Coordinates 55 ° 26 ′  N , 4 ° 38 ′  W Coordinates: 55 ° 26 ′  N , 4 ° 38 ′  W
Alloway (Scotland)
Alloway
Alloway
administration
Post town AYR
ZIP code section KA7
prefix 01292
Part of the country Scotland
Council area South Ayrshire
British Parliament Ayr, Carrick, and Cumnock
Scottish Parliament Ayr

Alloway ( Gaelic : Allmhaigh ) is a formerly independent village in the Scottish council area of South Ayrshire . Former capital of a parish of the same name , Alloway is now part of the urban area of ​​Ayr. It is on the southern edge of Ayr near the mouth of the Doon and the Firth of Clyde .

history

A church at this location was first mentioned in a charter of the Scottish King Alexander II from 1236. The Alloway Auld Kirk , preserved as a ruin today , probably dates back to 1516. Newark Castle , a few hundred meters south of the village, was built as a tower house in the 16th century . The oldest fragments may date from the 15th century.

Alloway's best- known son is the poet Robert Burns , born in 1759 , whose father is buried in the churchyard of Alloway Auld Kirk. His birthplace , now called Burns Cottage , is not far from the church. In the 1790s the church is already described as a ruin. The gruesome sight inspired Burns to describe it in his most famous poem Tam o 'Shanter as a haunted church ("There he sees shimmering through the gray; Kirk-Alloway, the old building; it shines in full gleam of lights; Dance"). The brig o 'Doon , through which the protagonist tries to escape the ghosts and witches from the church, is mentioned in the poem. ( Run Meg, it's Tammie's luck! Only win the narrow bridge! Blow in their faces there, you are not allowed over the water! ) The Robert Burns Monument was erected in the 1820s to commemorate the poet .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ List of Gaelic expressions
  2. ↑ a b Entry in the Gazetteer for Scotland
  3. ↑ Alloway in: FH Groome: Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical. , Grange Publishing, Edinburgh, 1885.
  4. ↑ a b Information from Alloway Church ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Entry on Newark Castle  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  6. ↑ Entry on Brig o 'Doon  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  7. ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .

Web links

Commons : Alloway  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files