Souter Johnnies Cottage

Souter Johnnies Cottage

Souter Johnnie's Cottage
Main Road
Kirkoswald
Ayrshire
Scotland
KA19 8HY

Tel: 0844 493 2147
E-Mail: jgibson@nts.org.uk

Web: Souter Johnnies Cottage

About Souter Johnnies Cottage

Souter Johnnie was a character in the Burns poem Tam o' Shanter. Souter Johnnie's real name was John Davidson. Souter is an old name for a shoemaker. Robert Burns's mother was born in Kirkoswald so there is a long connection with him; he also attended school here for a short time.

Souter Johnnie lived in this cottage until he died in 1806. The cottage is furnished in the style of Souter Johnnie's times. The cottage contains a lovely collection of tools similar to the ones the souter would have used. The souter's family carried on living here until about 1920.

Brief History of Souter Johnnies Cottage

John Davidson, aka Souter Johnnie, built his thatched cottage on Main Street, Kirkoswald in 1785. Robert Burns would have known the Davidsons from the summer he spent in the village in 1775, and his frequent visits thereafter. Davidson and his neighbour Douglas Graham – who Burns immortalised as Tam o’ Shanter – were well-known characters in the village, and Davidson’s wife, Ann Gillespie, worked for Burns’ grandfather.

Burns once wrote about his time in Kirkoswald in a letter to Dr John Moore: ‘The contraband trade was at that time very successful, and it sometimes happened to me to fall in with those who carried it on. Scenes of swaggering riot and roaring dissipation were, till this time, new to me: but I was no enemy to social life. Here, though, I learned to fill my glass, and to mix without fear in a drunken squabble.’

Davidson lived in the cottage until his death in 1806, and it remained in his family until 1920 when it was handed over to a committee headed by the Reverend James Muir, a local Burns scholar. The National Trust for Scotland took over the property in 1932 and restored it to the way it would have looked when John Davidson lived there.