Yesterday, P7 were lucky enough to get a guided tour of Ayr from Mr Barclay who works at the Carnegie Library. We  started off at the library then walked down to the Auld Brig , up to the Auld Kirk, back down towards the Citadel and then finished off with a visit inside Loudon Hall. We were really lucky with the weather! Here are some photographs taken from yesterday.

This was the stained glass window of Carnegie himself …

This was us standing on the auld brig looking at the new brig…

Apparently these two cobbles on the auld brig are facing the opposite direction to the others as they represent where the old toll gate would have been . This gate would have been the border line that separated Ayr and Newton on Ayr…

There was talk of the auld brig being demolished because of how much it had been damaged over the years. This plaque is on the auld brig because Robert Burns had written a poem about the old and the new bridge and had called it ‘The Brigs of Ayr.’ Within this poem he predicted that the new bridge would not last as long as the auld brig. Years after his death, a storm came and destroyed the new bridge, making Burns’ prediction true! Robert Burns fans from all around the world made donations to restore the auld brig so that it did not need to be demolished. Here are the girls beside the plaque…

We learned about the mortsafe at the Auld Kirk which was used to protect the corpses of the recently deceased. Mr Barclay explained that potential doctors and students needed freshly deceased bodies to operate and practice on and it was common for body snatchers and grave diggers to steal bodies. This device ensured that no one could open the coffins. Just as we were told this, two pigeons flew down from the roof and were close to our heads. Everyone got a massive fright and Miss Gunning screamed! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Here are all of the other photos that were taken…