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Tam o' Shanter kirkyard resurrected

It is famous as the ancient kirk where Satan led a gaggle of warlocks and witches in a frenzied jig "till roof and rafters a' did dirl".

Now the dilapidated graveyard immortalised in Robert Burns's Tam o' Shanter - where the poet's father is buried - is to be preserved for future generations.

Work is under way to restore the Auld Kirk of Alloway, the scene of a supernatural dance in the well-known poem, which has fallen into disrepair.

The adjoining churchyard will also be reinstated, ahead of celebrations planned to mark the 250th anniversary of the writer's birth in January 2009.

The kirk building in Ayrshire was a ruin even during the bard's lifetime, but its condition has deteriorated markedly in recent times.

Such was the local authority's concern for the safety of its structure, that the kirk's bell tower was dismantled four years ago.

A survey carried out on the building - A-listed by Historic Scotland - decreed it unsafe, with the tower on the verge of collapse and seedlings damaging external masonry.

The restoration scheme, however, will reinstate the bell tower - and the bell - and make significant inroads into curbing the building's further deterioration.

The headstone of Burns's father, William Burness (Robert later adopted the more common Ayrshire spelling of his surname) will also be cleaned and regilded as part of the restoration project. Other works, backed by the Robert Burns World Federation will include removing vegetation from the kirk's walls; stabilising cracks in the building; refurbishing the entrance to the graveyard; and stabilising several headstones deemed unsafe.

Full story at The Scotsman.