Burns' Mausoleum

Burns' Mausoleum, St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Burns' Mausoleum, St. Michael's Churchyard, Dumfries

The Burns' Mausoleum is located in the rear of St. Michael's Kirkyard in Dumfries and comprises a white-domed octagonal structure containing the graves of poet Robert Burns (1759-96), his widow Jean Armour and five of their family. Built in the Greek Classical style by T.F. Hunt in 1815, it is based on the Darnley Mausoleum at Cobham Hall in Kent, which was the work of James Wyatt. Burns was originally buried in a modest grave in a nearby corner and it was not until 20 years after his death that his remains were moved to this more fitting location. Glass windows allow visitors to view the interior, dominated by a marble relief showing the poet summoned from the plough. Replacing a similar one which had decayed, this relief is by Yorkshire sculptor J. Hermon Cawthra (1886 - 1957) and was unveiled on 19th September 1936 by Prime Minister J. Ramsay MacDonald (1866 - 1937) to mark the renovation of the mausoleum.


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