The best city hikes and walks around Whitelee Forest

One of several Burns hot spots in Kilmarnock.

This is an unusual Burns monument in that it also honours John Wilson, a printer who was responsible for printing the Kilmarnock Edition of Burns first set of published poems. The monument has been sculptured with a classical theme. The monument has full sized bronze sculptures of both Burns and Wilson, dressed as gentlemen of the 18th century, but with pose and cloaks in the Greco-Roman style. To round off the classical them, the ensemble also has a bust of Apollo and Hermes next to the two men.

New Laigh Kirk, situated in the centre of Kilmarnock is a vibrant and large congregation of the Church of Scotland. It was the first Church in Kilmarnock following the reformation in 1560 although the present building dates from 1802 following the tragic events which took place on the afternoon of Sunday 18 October 1801. The Church was packed for worship when some plaster fell from the ceiling and panic ensued. Thirty people died in the rush to get out. The Church was demolished and rebuilt in 1802 with wide staircases to the gallery and many exits. Laigh Kirk is mentioned by Robert Burns in his poems and he is believed to have visited the Church. Covenanters gravestones are in the Churchyard. For many visitors the highlight is the magnificent stained glass windows which have recently been cleaned and restored.

Two bronze dogs I believe connected to Burns Twa Dugs The Twa Dogs Written In 1785 'Twas in that place o' Scotland's isle, That bears the name o' auld King Coil, Upon a bonie day in June, When wearin' thro' the afternoon, Twa dogs, that were na thrang at hame, Forgather'd ance upon a time. The first I'll name, they ca'd him Caesar, Was keepit for His Honor's pleasure: His hair, his size, his mouth, his lugs, Shew'd he was nane o' Scotland's dogs; But whalpit some place far abroad, Whare sailors gang to fish for cod. His locked, letter'd, braw brass collar Shew'd him the gentleman an' scholar; But though he was o' high degree, The fient a pride, nae pride had he; But wad hae spent an hour caressin, Ev'n wi' al tinkler-gipsy's messin: At kirk or market, mill or smiddie, Nae tawted tyke, tho' e'er sae duddie, But he wad stan't, as glad to see him, An' stroan't on stanes an' hillocks wi' him. The tither was a ploughman's collie A rhyming, ranting, raving billie, Wha for his friend an' comrade had him, And in freak had Luath ca'd him, After some dog in Highland Sang, Was made lang syne, - Lord knows how lang. He was a gash an' faithfu' tyke, As ever lap a sheugh or dyke. His honest, sonsie, baws'nt face Aye gat him friends in ilka place; His breast was white, his touzie back Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black; His gawsie tail, wi' upward curl, Hung owre his hurdie's wi' a swirl. Nae doubt but they were fain o' ither, And unco pack an' thick thegither; Wi' social nose whiles snuff'd an' snowkit; Whiles mice an' moudieworts they howkit; Whiles scour'd awa' in lang excursion, An' worry'd ither in diversion; Until wi' daffin' weary grown Upon a knowe they set them down. An' there began a lang digression. About the "lords o' the creation." Caesar I've aften wonder'd, honest Luath, What sort o' life poor dogs like you have; An' when the gentry's life I saw, What way poor bodies liv'd ava. Our laird gets in his racked rents, His coals, his kane, an' a' his stents: He rises when he likes himsel'; His flunkies answer at the bell; He ca's his coach; he ca's his horse; He draws a bonie silken purse, As lang's my tail, where, thro' the steeks, The yellow letter'd Geordie keeks. Frae morn to e'en, it's nought but toiling At baking, roasting, frying, boiling; An' tho' the gentry first are stechin, Yet ev'n the ha' folk fill their pechan Wi' sauce, ragouts, an' sic like trashtrie, That's little short o' downright wastrie. Our whipper-in, wee, blasted wonner, Poor, worthless elf, it eats a dinner, Better than ony tenant-man His Honour has in a' the lan': An' what poor cot-folk pit their painch in, I own it's past my comprehension. Luath Trowth, Caesar, whiles they're fash't eneugh: A cottar howkin in a sheugh, Wi' dirty stanes biggin a dyke, Baring a quarry, an' sic like; Himsel', a wife, he thus sustains, A smytrie o' wee duddie weans, An' nought but his han'-daurk, to keep Them right an' tight in thack an' rape. An' when they meet wi' sair disasters, Like loss o' health or want o' masters, Ye maist wad think, a wee touch langer, An' they maun starve o' cauld an' hunger: But how it comes, I never kent yet, They're maistly wonderfu' contented; An' buirdly chiels, an' clever hizzies, Are bred in sic a way as this is. Caesar But then to see how ye're negleckit, How huff'd, an' cuff'd, an' disrespeckit! Lord man, our gentry care as little For delvers, ditchers, an' sic cattle; They gang as saucy by poor folk, As I wad by a stinkin brock. I've notic'd, on our laird's court-day, An' mony a time my heart's been wae, Poor tenant bodies, scant o'cash, How they maun thole a factor's snash; He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear He'll apprehend them, poind their gear; While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble, An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble! I see how folk live that hae riches; But surely poor-folk maun be wretches! Luath They're no sae wretched's ane wad think. Tho' constantly on poortith's brink, They're sae accustom'd wi' the sight, The view o't gives them little fright. Then chance and fortune are sae guided, They're aye in less or mair provided: An' tho' fatigued wi' close employment, A blink o' rest's a sweet enjoyment. The dearest comfort o' their lives, Their grushie weans an' faithfu' wives; The prattling things are just their pride, That sweetens a' their fire-side. An' whiles twalpennie worth o' nappy Can mak the bodies unco happy: They lay aside their private cares, To mind the Kirk and State affairs; They'll talk o' patronage an' priests, Wi' kindling fury i' their breasts, Or tell what new taxation's comin, An' ferlie at the folk in Lon'on. As bleak-fac'd Hallowmass returns, They get the jovial, rantin kirns, When rural life, of ev'ry station, Unite in common recreation; Love blinks, Wit slaps, an' social Mirth Forgets there's Care upo' the earth. That merry day the year begins, They bar the door on frosty win's; The nappy reeks wi' mantling ream, An' sheds a heart-inspiring steam; The luntin pipe, an' sneeshin mill, Are handed round wi' right guid will; The cantie auld folks crackin crouse, The young anes rantin thro' the house - My heart has been sae fain to see them, That I for joy hae barkit wi' them. Still it's owre true that ye hae said, Sic game is now owre aften play'd; There's mony a creditable stock O' decent, honest, fawsont folk, Are riven out baith root an' branch, Some rascal's pridefu' greed to quench, Wha thinks to knit himsel the faster In favour wi' some gentle master, Wha, aiblins, thrang a parliamentin, For Britain's guid his saul indentin - Caesar Haith, lad, ye little ken about it: For Britain's guid! guid faith! I doubt it. Say rather, gaun as Premiers lead him: An' saying ay or no's they bid him: At operas an' plays parading, Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading: Or maybe, in a frolic daft, To Hague or Calais takes a waft, To mak a tour an' tak a whirl, To learn bon ton, an' see the worl'. There, at Vienna, or Versailles, He rives his father's auld entails; Or by Madrid he takes the rout, To thrum guitars an' fecht wi' nowt; Or down Italian vista startles, Whore-hunting amang groves o' myrtles: Then bowses drumlie German-water, To mak himsel look fair an' fatter, An' clear the consequential sorrows, Love-gifts of Carnival signoras. For Britain's guid! for her destruction! Wi' dissipation, feud, an' faction. Luath Hech, man! dear sirs! is that the gate They waste sae mony a braw estate! Are we sae foughten an' harass'd For gear to gang that gate at last? O would they stay aback frae courts, An' please themsels wi' country sports, It wad for ev'ry ane be better, The laird, the tenant, an' the cotter! For thae frank, rantin, ramblin billies, Feint haet o' them's ill-hearted fellows; Except for breakin o' their timmer, Or speakin lightly o' their limmer, Or shootin of a hare or moor-cock, The ne'er-a-bit they're ill to poor folk, But will ye tell me, Master Caesar, Sure great folk's life's a life o' pleasure? Nae cauld nor hunger e'er can steer them, The very thought o't need na fear them. Caesar Lord, man, were ye but whiles whare I am, The gentles, ye wad ne'er envy them! It's true, they need na starve or sweat, Thro' winter's cauld, or simmer's heat: They've nae sair wark to craze their banes, An' fill auld age wi' grips an' granes: But human bodies are sic fools, For a' their colleges an' schools, That when nae real ills perplex them, They mak enow themsel's to vex them; An' aye the less they hae to sturt them, In like proportion, less will hurt them. A country fellow at the pleugh, His acre's till'd, he's right eneugh; A country girl at her wheel, Her dizzen's dune, she's unco weel; But gentlemen, an' ladies warst, Wi' ev'n-down want o' wark are curst. They loiter, lounging, lank an' lazy; Tho' deil-haet ails them, yet uneasy; Their days insipid, dull, an' tasteless; Their nights unquiet, lang, an' restless. An'ev'n their sports, their balls an' races, Their galloping through public places, There's sic parade, sic pomp, an' art, The joy can scarcely reach the heart. The men cast out in party-matches, Then sowther a' in deep debauches. Ae night they're mad wi' drink an' whoring, Niest day their life is past enduring. The ladies arm-in-arm in clusters, As great an' gracious a' as sisters; But hear their absent thoughts o' ither, They're a' run-deils an' jads thegither. Whiles, owre the wee bit cup an' platie, They sip the scandal-potion pretty; Or lee-lang nights, wi' crabbit leuks Pore owre the devil's pictur'd beuks; Stake on a chance a farmer's stackyard, An' cheat like ony unhanged blackguard. There's some exceptions, man an' woman; But this is gentry's life in common. By this, the sun was out of sight, An' darker gloamin brought the night; The bum-clock humm'd wi' lazy drone; The kye stood rowtin i' the loan; When up they gat an' shook their lugs, Rejoic'd they werena men but dogs; An' each took aff his several way, Resolv'd to meet some ither day.

Tucked away off King Street in Sandbed Street.

Demure and forlorn, the lady in red clutching a black parasol painted by local artist Tom Lightbody has intrigued and delighted many since it was put in place. But not many people know the truly tragic tale behind the new larger than life installation. Celebrate Kilmarnock, who commissioned Tom to carry out the work, say the woman is an interpretation of the Countess of Kilmarnock — Lady Anne Livingston Boyd. Lady Boyd was married to William Boyd, the 4th Earl of Kilmarnock. The couple lived in Kilmarnock House, now St Marnock Street car park, a stone's throw away from the mural site. In 1746, the Earl and Countess had extensive gardens — now the Howard Park — to the south of Kilmarnock House. St. Marnock Street did not exist then. The Earl of Kilmarnock sided with Bonnie Prince Charlie during the Jacobite Rebellion, and as colonel in the Horse Grenadiers, he was indebted to his wife during the battle of Falkirk Muir (17/1/1746) for deliberately delaying the opposition general at a lunch, therefore ensuring he was late for the conflict and unable to gain victory for the government. Three months later the battle at Culloden took place with disastrous consequences for the Jacobite cause. The earl of Kilmarnock was captured and taken to the Tower of London and beheaded. During the Earl’s imprisonment, execution and thereafter, the Countess would take long grief-stricken walks in her garden — now the Howard Park. Sadly, Lady Boyd died broken-hearted less than a year later. This is the origin of 'The Lady’s Walk' in The Howard Park, and many claim to have witnessed her sorrowful, ghostly traipses through the centuries. The painting also pays homage to the lace-making industry, which was flourishing in East Ayrshire in the 19th century.

John Walker (1805–1857) was a grocer in Kilmarnock who originated what would become one of the world's most famous whisky brands in the world. When his father Alexander died in 1820, John was left £417 in trust. In 1820 the trustees invested in an Italian warehouse, grocery, and wine and spirits shop on King Street in Kilmarnock. An 1852 flood destroyed virtually all of the stock Walker held, but the business recovered within a couple of years. His own whisky brand, then known as "Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky" was popular locally. In 1833 John married Elizabeth Purves. Their son Alexander had apprenticed with a tea merchant in Glasgow, and there learned the art of blending tea. When he returned to take over the business from his ailing father, he used those skills to create Old Highland Whisky, (eventually renamed Johnnie Walker Black Label) the first of Walker's blends which became popular far beyond Ayrshire. Although he gave his name to the whisky, John Walker was a far less important figure to the brand than his son, Alexander, as it was he who persuaded his father to abandon the narrow realm of the grocery trade and to go into wholesale trading. At the beginning, the firm offered a range of spirits: Campbeltown whisky from the Kintyre Peninsula; whisky from the Inner Hebridean Island of Islay, with its pungent smokey flavour; patent still, or grain, whisky; and "Glenlivet", Speyside whisky. Even so, whisky sales under John Walker represented just 8 percent of the firm's income; by the time Alexander was ready to pass on the company to his own sons, that figure had increased to between 90 and 95 percent. The magnificent Johnnie Walker Bond building still stands in the town centre and has a statue of John which does not take the form of the famous 'Striding Man' image created in the first half on the 20th Century and which is recognised the world over - along with the 'Born 1820 Still Going Strong' motto. Sadly, the closure of the huge Johnnie Walker bottling plant in 2012, (once the world's largest) and the associate blending and bond operations in and around the town severed all links with Kilmarnock.

Burns' first publication was in Kilmarnock and the mural commemorates his links to the East Ayrshire town.