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Museums and history
in Ayrshire.

It’s 20:06 in Ayrshire.
Ayrshire

Box beds, puffers and Mauchline Ware.

The past in Ayrshire is easy to get close to. In Alloway, you can read Robert Burns's poems in his own hand at the museum, then walk along the road to the thatched cottage where he was born. In Mauchline, the house where he lived with Jean Armour keeps a curtained box bed, the clothes and household things of his day, and an old alehouse full of Mauchline Ware. At Irvine, the story of Scotland's shipbuilders is told under the glass roof of an engine shop that once stood in Govan, with a puffer of 1942 on the water outside. One ticket covers the Alloway museum and the cottage.

Brig o’ Doon→
Machrie Moor Stone Circles→
Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine→
Loudoun Hill→
Burns Cottage→
Vikingar, Largs→
Burns Monument→
Dalgarven Mill→
Burns House Museum→
Alloway Auld Kirk→
The Pencil, Largs→
Robert Burns Birthplace Museum→
Place of the day18 hours ago

Machrie Moor Stone Circles.

Six stone circles on an open moor on Arran's west coast, raised around 2000 BC over older timber circles, the tallest stones over five metres high.

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From our guide17 hours ago

Alloway Auld Kirk.

This small roofless kirk is where Tam o' Shanter, riding home late from the market, saw witches and warlocks dancing in the firelight. It was built in 1516 and was already a ruin when Burns was a boy, and he set the most famous scene of his poem here. Wander the old kirkyard under the big trees and you will find a quieter link to the poet as well: the grave of his father, William Burnes, just inside the entrance. The National Trust for Scotland looks after it, and it is free to visit at any time. Come at dusk in autumn for the full effect.

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Newly discovered15 hours agoIsle of ArranThe Sailor's GraveAttractionIsle of ArranThe Sandwich Station, LochranzaRestaurantAyrshireBurns CottageAttractionAyrshirePoet’s PathWalkAyrshirePrestwick Golf ClubAttractionAyrshireBrig o’ DoonAttraction

Some good places to go, newly added to the site.

The newest places on our pages in Ayrshire.

Browse everywhere to go
Lunch14 hours agoAyrshireNarture Sourdough Bakery10.5 milesAyrshireThe Fox & Willow10.7 milesAyrshireThe Coo Shed11.0 miles

Lunch near Burns House Museum.

The three good places closest to it: Narture Sourdough Bakery, The Fox & Willow and The Coo Shed.

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From our guide12 hours ago

Vikingar, Largs.

Vikingar is the white building on the Largs seafront with a round glass drum spelling out its name. Alongside the town's leisure centre, it is home to the Viking Experience, a guided tour led by a storyteller rather than set out on panels. It brings the Vikings and the Battle of Largs to life in a way that suits children well. The centre also has a 25-metre pool with a teaching pool, a gym and the Barrfields Pavilion Theatre. Tours run at set times, so check before you go. Nardini's is just outside for an ice cream afterwards.

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From our guide11 hours ago

Burns Monument.

The National Trust for Scotland calls this the place where Burns tourism began. Thomas Hamilton designed the monument, a Grecian temple raised between 1820 and 1823 on the slope over the River Doon. Its three-sided base faces Ayrshire's three old districts, Carrick, Kyle and Cunninghame, and nine Corinthian columns stand for the nine muses. Inside is a small round room with a bust of the poet, and stairs climb to a walkway around the top. The gardens are lovely in spring, with tulips and blossom, and the paths look down on the Brig o' Doon. It makes a gentle end to a day in Alloway.

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From our guide9 hours ago

The Pencil, Largs.

At the south end of the promenade in Largs, a round stone tower with a sharp pointed top stands on a little point by the marina. Everyone calls it the Pencil. It was built in 1912 to mark the Battle of Largs, fought on 2 October 1263, when a storm drove ships of King Haakon of Norway's fleet ashore and the Scots fought his men on the beach. The walk out from the town follows the shore, with views over the Firth of Clyde. Every year the Largs Viking Festival ends with fireworks at the monument.

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From our guide6 hours ago

Scottish Maritime Museum, Irvine.

Irvine's harbourside is home to the Scottish Maritime Museum, which tells the story of Scotland's ships and the people who built and sailed them. The building is half the show. It is the Linthouse engine shop, built in Govan in 1872 for the shipbuilders Alexander Stephen and Sons, then taken down and rebuilt here in 1991. Under its iron frame and great glass roof are boats, engines and models, and a shipyard worker's tenement flat set out as it was before 1920. Outside on the water sits the Spartan, a puffer built in 1942. Finish with a coffee at Puffer's on the wharf.

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From our guide5 hours ago

Burns Cottage.

Robert Burns was born in this long, low thatched cottage on 25 January 1759, and he lived here until he was seven. His father, William Burnes, built it. Step inside and it is smaller than you might expect, with four rooms under one roof, two for the family and two for the animals. In the kitchen is the box bed where Scotland's national poet came into the world. The cottage is part of the Birthplace Museum, and the Poet's Path links the two. Give yourself time to stand in that kitchen and imagine the winter of 1759.

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From our guide2 hours ago

Dalgarven Mill.

In a quiet valley by the River Garnock, Dalgarven Mill still turns one of Scotland's last working water wheels. The stone grain mill was built in 1880, and today it is also the Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume, spread over three floors. The costume collection is a joy, with more than 3,000 pieces of clothing from 1775 to the present day, shown in changing exhibitions. The rest of the mill tells the story of the farming families and trades of the Ayrshire countryside. Finish with a riverside stroll and a bowl of soup or a slice of cake in the Miller's Kitchen.

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From our guide1 hour ago

Robert Burns Birthplace Museum.

Alloway is where Robert Burns was born, and this is the place to start. The National Trust for Scotland's museum holds more than 5,000 objects from his life, among them manuscripts in his own hand, and the displays make his poems easy to enjoy even if you have never read a line. From here the whole village becomes a walk through his life and his most famous poem. One ticket covers the museum and the cottage where he was born, and the café serves haggis, neeps and tatties.

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