Rabbie Burns made two [recorded] visits to Stirlingshire. Of these visits, the most definitive account was published in 1899:
Betty Black’s Inn. ‘PH’ bottom left, off Brook Street First OS map
It was recorded that during his stay in Alva, that Rabbie Burns passed the night in Courthill House. But, locally, this was not felt to be the case:
Footnotes:
James Dawson was my forebear. Today, this family sampler, stitched in 1814, by Susannah Rutherfoord, hangs above our fireplace. Susannah’s mother was Margaret Black ‘M.B.’ – as stitched – was sister to Eliza Black, ‘LUCKIE’.
This parish record, from 1754, records the marriage of the parents of LUCKIE and that John Black was Butler to the Earl of Glencairn. It was the Earl of Glencairn who financed the first publication of Rabbie Burns poems.
Finally, this article, printed in 1902, which has only just been discovered, has probably not been seen since publication. The details of the family informants all appear to be accurate:
Short films by Peter Scott-Gordon on Rabbie Burns:
[To read what histoty has recorded of Fair Eliza, please click here]
To write in the dialect of his country:
The laird of Asloss and Slidderybraes:
