The farm where legendary poet Robert Burns wrote Auld Lang Syne has launched an urgent appeal to save the site from falling into decay.
A £12million international fundraising appeal has been unveiled to rescue the historic Dumfries home that the legendary wordsmith built for his family.
The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust launched its campaign on Friday at Glasgow’s Collective Architecture studio, ahead of St Andrew’s Day celebrations.
Scotland’s most famous poet constructed the farmhouse beside the River Nith in 1788 when he was 29, creating a home for his wife Jean and their children.
Ellisland Farm served as the birthplace for numerous celebrated works, including Tam O’Shanter and My Heart’s In The Highlands.
It was there that Auld Lang Syne was also first scratched onto parchment, with the famous words being carried around the world by emigrating Scots in the 19th century.
The poem proved incredibly popular in the US and became inexorably linked with New Year’s Eve celebrations in the early 20th century.
From there, Auld Lang Syne was established as a mainstay in American and global culture.
The historic farm has fallen into disrepair since the poet built it in 1788
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ELLISLANDFARM.COM
Despite the significance of Ellisland Farm, the Category A-listed buildings have fallen into severe disrepair.
The 18th-century structures suffer from persistent dampness and progressive decay, threatening both the farmhouse itself and the home for invaluable papers linked to Robert Burns.
The Barnbougle Papers provide a candid insight into his home life, including manuscripts and detailed shopping records from 1788, which list items ranging from household furnishings and timber flooring to vegetable seeds for the kitchen garden.
Ellisland Farm achieved museum status in 2023, yet the buildings remain unsuitable for safely displaying the valuable archives without comprehensive repairs.
The legendary Scottish poet wrote Auld Lang Syne at the Ellisland Farm in 1788
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Duncan Dornan, who chairs both the Robert Burns Ellisland Trust and Museums Galleries Scotland, emphasised the site’s global cultural importance.
“Ellisland has that same potential to become both a national landmark and a source of enduring inspiration.”
“This is our opportunity to preserve the home where the world’s most famous song was born and ensure it thrives for generations to come,” he explained.
Adam Dickson, the restoration project’s curator, said: “The Ellisland collection is hugely important, but it’s under threat from environmental conditions that make proper care impossible.”
The Robert Burns Ellisland Trust has even recreated the site in Minecraft
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ELLISLANDFARM.COM
Plans to save Ellisland include constructing an environmentally regulated museum facility to properly preserve the manuscript collection.
The 140-acre estate will feature multiple “hermitages” – creative retreats inspired by Burns’s own writing sanctuary at the neighbouring Friars Carse estate.
These artist residencies will generate revenue whilst offering contemporary writers and musicians a workspace in the landscape that inspired Auld Lang Syne.
Collective Architecture will reveal completed restoration designs in early 2026, with The National Lottery Heritage Fund contributing nearly £500,000 towards planning, with potential for £1.6million in delivery support.
As part of their innovative conservation efforts, the trust has even recreated a replica version of Ellisland in Minecraft, complete with interactive representations of Robert Burns and his family.
The conservation appeal’s launch event featured a specially commissioned film premiere showcasing Scotland’s national Makar, Peter Mackay, alongside former Jamaican poet laureate Lorna Goodison, who recently completed a residency at the farm.
The restored Burns Family Flute, silent for 150 years, was performed alongside singer Robyn Stapleton at the launch.
Project director Joan McAlpine, a former MSP for South Scotland who has overseen development since 2021, highlighted the broader economic benefits.
“This site has immense potential as both a cultural destination and an engine for regional economic regeneration,” she said.