Category Archives: Literary Heritage

The New Coo

by bmcuser

This Thursday is National Poetry Day, which is the perfect excuse to delve into our collections of some of the lesser-known poetry of Ayrshire’s past. The theme for National Poetry Day is water, but given it is East Ayrshire Leisure’s Harvest Festival this weekend, we’re finding an enjoyable theme of cows in some of our local collections. For example, this little pamphlet printed in Beith in 1829 -

Copy of Old Hawkey or the properties of the cow, a poem

Our favourite poem of the week however, comes from John S. Gall of Stonebriggs, Cumnock, whose 1928 collection Muses behind the plough contains poems about the First World War and miners’ strikes as well as farming.

Copy of Muses behind the plough

The first poem ‘The New Coo’ contains the happy chorus:

“Breed a coo that can fill the pail;
Breed a coo that can tap the sale;
Breed a coo that can breed a male
          Worth seventeen hunner guineas.”
 

John S. Gall was a dairy farmer, champion ploughman, singer and fiddler. He was born at East Montgarswood Farm in the parish of Sorn in 1875. The foreword of his collection states that his poems “were often jotted down with his pipe-stem on the beam and stilts of his plough and transferred to paper by the fireside in the evenings when the day’s toil was over.” He died in 1966 age 91.

National Poetry Day is being celebrated at Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute with a special event by acclaimed poet Chris Powici, Thursday 3rd October (for more info, call ).

To the Shetland Islands through Kilmarnock Spectacles

by bmcuser

An interesting part of Kilmarnock’s 20th century literary heritage is the series of travel books written by William Munro. These were written and published in Kilmarnock around the early 1900s, often by D. Brown & Co. Some, for example the Shetland book below, were reprinted from the Kilmarnock Standard.

To the Shetland Islands through Kilmarnock spectacles

The books essentially detail Munro’s holidays in a relaxed and chatty (for the time) style – “What I did during the Grozet Fair”. His travel writing takes in Peebles, Dunblane, St Andrews, Montrose, Brechin, Nottingham, Taymouth Castle, Keswick, and in the case of the holiday below, Edinburgh.

A Jumbled Holiday

Even at this time, Munro is bemoaning the diminishing stature of the local Grozet Fair, where he remembers shows and attractions that would keep people in the town during their holidays. Instead, he sees that local people are being drawn off on their travels, even to Paisley or Glasgow to see the shows.

Nottingham and within motor reach

William Munro was a Baillie of Kilmarnock around the turn of the 20th century (most of his books are credited to Ex-Bailie Munro). He also wrote articles for the Kilmarnock Standard and local magazines Auld Killie and St Marnock. He was President of the Kilmarnock Burns Club in 1912 and as convener of the Town Council’s Books Committee, played a key role in the development of the Ayrshire Collection. Beyond his official capacity, he was a partner in Gilmour & Smith, preserve manufacturers based at Glencairn Preserve Works. Perhaps his literary leanings influenced the use of the Burns Monument on the firm’s advertisement!

Gilmour and Smith ad

Poems, Chiefly!

by bmcuser

Today is the anniversary of the publication of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect by Robert Burns. At the Burns Monument Centre we’re marking the anniversary with a very special event. On Friday night we have a special guest in the form of Ian Rankin, introduced and in conversation with Zoe Strachan (sold out!). On Saturday we have an intensive creative writing workshop with Rab Wilson (more info below and here).

chiefly-2013-email

We love to explore the many editions, reprints and fascimilies of the Kilmarnock edition, and sometimes we find some nice suprises! Kilmarnock publisher James McKie printed some lovely editions of Burns’ work, including a limited print of 600 copies of Poems in 1867. In the same year, he printed a ‘large-paper reprint and facsimile’ in a very limited print of 50 copies.

McKie's large paper edition title page

The inscription states that this large paper edition was printed for the London publishers Willis and Sotheran. It measures 11″ x 7″. This copy is part of the fantastic McKie Collection held in Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute.

Writing Workshop with Rab Wilson

by bmcuser

Festivals, Fairs, Pageants and Parades

Acclaimed Ayrshire poet Rab Wilson will lead an intensive afternoon creative writing workshop on the theme of Festivals, Fairs, Pageants and Parades.  This workshop is part of our ‘Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect’ event, which was established last year to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of the Kilmarnock Edition.

Saturday 3rd August, 1 – 4 pm (with a short break) at the Burns Monument Centre, Meeting Room.

Muirkirk Furnace Rd3

Image – Parade on Muirkirk’s Furnace Road, early 20th century.

Rab Wilson will use examples of local writing about fairs, festivals, pageants and parades, from the area’s past and present. Writers will be able to develop a piece of writing (poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction), read their work in a friendly environment, and receive constructive feedback from peers and the workshop leader. Writers should bring along a piece of writing to be developed, if possible on the theme of ‘Fairs, festivals, pageants and parades’ but this isn’t a necessity. Writing doesn’t have to be in Scots and Rab will be happy to receive pieces in advance of the workshop.

Tickets are £5 are can be booked by calling .

ENSPIRE and Ideas from Kilmarnock’s Past

by bmcuser

ENSPIRE, Kilmarnock’s first Festival of Ideas, will take place this Sunday at St Joseph’s Academy, 11 – 4. The event has been organised by St Joseph’s pupils and features a cast of speakers covering architecture, culture and creativity, science, disability and education. Here’s the poster -

Enspire poster

Here at the Burns Monument Centre we’re interested in the local history of ideas and how they can be relevant today. Our collections of Kilmarnock’s printed heritage give us an insight into the ideas that shaped the town in the past. Poetic, religious, political and philosophical musings were often published in cheap pamphlet editions for local booksellers to punt for a shilling or sixpence. There were numerous printers, booksellers and stationers in business in the town throughout the 19th century. 

Some pamphlets have had a lasting significance, for example this account of the ‘Public Meeting held at Kilmarnock, on the 7th December 1816′. The pamphlet records the speeches of local people who wanted parliamentary reform. At the time only one person in all of Kilmarnock was eligble to vote.

Copy of Pamphlet title pages 007

Two of the men involved in the meeting and in the printing of the pamphlet, Alexander McLaren and Thomas Baird, were arrested and accused of “wickedly and feloniously printing, selling, publishing and circulating the said tract or statement.” They were imprisoned in the Tollbooth in Edinburgh for 6 months and both died soon after their release. These events and the people involved are remembered at the Reformer’s Monument in the Kay Park.

Other pamphlets have become (almost) lost in obscurity. We know very little about the pamphlet below, written by ‘John Lawrie, Kilmarnock’ and printed and sold in Kilmarnock, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London in the 1830s. The only other record we can find of this pamphlet’s existence is at Yale Universtiy in their holdings on phenomenology. We’d love to know more about the author.

Copy of A Concise View of the Inductive Mode of Investigation

Hopefully the ENSPIRE festival will be spoken of in 200 years time. In the meantime, we’ll keep a copy of the poster in the archive!