East Ayrshire Image
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East Ayrshire Image March 13, 2012
1. Gavin Hamilton's House, Mauchline.
Date: unknown
19th Century illustration, copyright expired
This view of Gavin Hamilton's house is from the bleaching green, where Burns first encountered Jean Armour. To the right of the house is the parish church To the left are the remains of the old priory, also known as Mauchline Castle.
The church was built by the monks of Melrose abbey in the 12th or 13th century and it served as a place of worship for some 600years before being replaced, on the same site, with the present church constructed in the early 19th century.
The burial ground associated with the church was the scene of The Holy Fair described in Burns' epic poem.
Although Burns was Hamilton's tenant at Mossgiel, he enjoyed a cordial relationship with Hamilton and was a frequent visitor to the house. Hamilton encouraged Burns to publish some of his poems.
This engraving was published in 1840 by Blackie & Son, Glasgow, in The Land of Burns Professor Wilson & Robert Chambers. It is probable that it shows the new parish church. The old church had been described as a large, plain, sombre looking structure built in that primitive style of architecture so often met within the old ruined churches of antiquated parishes, with the invariable appendages of belfry and burying ground.
For further information about Mauchline at the time of Burns please refer to John Strawhorn (1985), Mauchline Memories of Robert Burns, Ayrshire Collections Volume 14 Number 6, AANHS (AYR).