£60,000 award to fund design for Robert Burns’ Ellisland farm

The Trust which plans to create a museum at Ellisland farm, the home of Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns, has received a £60,000 grant from Museums Galleries Scotland to design the future storytelling experience.

The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust launched a £12m campaign to save the farm, with plans to safeguard its collection and restore the building. Plans include a gallery, museum, Centre for Song, and recreating Burns’ hermitage, alongside fundraising and community engagement.

Ellisland is Robert Burns’ only self-designed home, and was the place he wrote works including Auld Lang Syne and Tam o Shanter.

The grant comes from the latest round of the Museum Development Fund, supported by the Scottish Government. Ellisland is one of 12 museums across Scotland to receive funding, and the only recipient in Dumfries and Galloway.

The award is designed to fund a plan for the farm’s interpreted after restoration. The songs and poems Burns wrote at the farm will be built directly into that interpretation, the trust said.

Burns built Ellisland in 1788 as his first marital home. It is the only house he designed himself and the best preserved of all his homes.

Adam Dickson, project curator of the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust, said: “This project will help us realise an ambitious vision for Ellisland. It draws together all the work we have done so far, the research and the development of the collection behind the scenes and brings us to the point where we can design a compelling, authentic and world-class experience for the local community and for visitors.

The award is the latest step in its \Save the Home of Auld Lang Syne’, campaign which will restore the Category A listed farmhouse and steading and secure its long-term future.

Planning permission for the restoration was granted by Dumfries and Galloway Council earlier this year and the project is now in detailed design.