National Galleries of Scotland

This drawing shows the ruins of Alloway Kirk, the setting for Burns?s famous tale `Tam O?Shanter?, and where Tam saw the witches dancing before they gave chase to him. Burns was born in a cottage close to the Kirk on 25 January 1759. Alloway Kirk was last used as a place of worship in 1756 and by the time that Burns had penned his famous poem in 1790, the building had become a ruin. The roof had fallen in and crows nested in the stonework. Burns?s father and his sister Isabella Burns Begg are buried in the kirkyard..