THE 15th-century cobblestone bridge crossing the river Doon at Alloway, looks idyllic and picturesque by day and in most tourist photographs, or even on our crisp £5 notes, but, of course, it has another darker, and more dramatic life in the imagination of Scots, and those the world over who have enjoyed our bard’s tale of Tam O’Shanter.
It is an icon of the supernatural and local superstition. A beguiling reminder of the weird and uncanny.
In our mind’s darkness, witches tear towards it. A grey mare pounds, tail flying in the wind and rain. Nan, leaps to clutch the. This is the place, famously, to which the drunken Tam fled on his mare, Maggie, pursued by this “hellish horde”, knowing that “a running stream they dare na cross”.
For Robert Burns great narrative poem wasn’t purely invented. It was based upon a local lore and story, recorded in a letter to his friend, the art critic and antiquary Captain Francis Grose. There were Burns notes in this epistle, three witch stories associated with the Alloway Kirk. Amongst these “authentic” tales was that of a Carrick farmer who saw a witches’ dance in the haunted kirk and had to flee for his life with witches and warlocks at his horse’s tail.
“I need not mention,” writes Burns, “the universally known fact, that no diabolical power can pursue you beyond the middle of a running stream. Lucky it was for the poor farmer that the river Doon was so near, for notwithstanding the speed of his horse, which was a good one, against he reached the middle of the arch of the bridge and consequently the middle of the stream, the pursuing, vengeful hags were so close at his heels, that one of them actually sprung to seize him.”
By day Brig o’ Doon, is almost too neat and picturesque – just above the Brig, an ornamental garden, with nine pillars representing the muses – the setting so manicured in its topiary, it feels as if it must hide something, even now, a little darker. Which, of course, so many places do, when the sun falls over the horizon and we turn to drink, or find our minds a little altered.
Robert Burns: The life and loves of Scotland's bard
The Brig and its horror-filled story seem to symbolise the fine line alcohol takes us to between glory and disaster. As Burns wrote in Tam O’Shanter’s final lines: "No, wha this tale o' truth shall read/ Ilk man and mother's son take heed/ Whene'er to drink you are inclin'd,/ Or cutty-sarks run in your mind,/ Think! ye may buy joys o'er dear - / Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here