Side view of cottage showing mossy growth on thatch; Robert Burns Cottage, Alloway.

Following the launch of trove.scot in February 2025 we are now planning the retiral of some of our webservices. Canmore will be switched off on 24th June 2025. Information about the closure can be found on the HES website: Retiral of HES web services | Historic Environment Scotland

DP 240984

Description Side view of cottage showing mossy growth on thatch; Robert Burns Cottage, Alloway.

Date 16/6/2014

Collection Records of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, London, England

Catalogue Number DP 240984

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Single-storey, seven-bay cottage, built in 1737 and extended in 1808. The cottage was the birthplace of Robert Burns and is now part of the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, which is run by the National Trust for Scotland. The building is of an almost rectangular plan (though slightly curved) and, subsequent to it’s extension in 1808, it was used as an alehouse until 1880 ‘when it was acquired and restored by the Burns Monument Trustees’. The building has a reed-thatched roof and a five-tiered (per elevation) timber plank ridge. This type of ridge appears to be a tradition for the area, and other buildings in Ayrshire still retain this type of material (e.g Souter Johnnie’s Cottage in Kirkoswold). The thatch has been left entirely uncovered and on the north elevation has a large amount of mossy vegetation growth across the surface of the reed, which has become quite dense in one area. The thatch has been left straight at the eaves along the south elevation, whilst on the north elevation the thatch has been sculpted slightly at the eaves over the top of the central window opening only.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/1538301

File Format (JPG) JPEG bitmap