2-791-517 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Alloway Kirk, Tam o'Shanter, 1844. The ruins of Alloway Auld Kirk, which dates back to the 16th century, near Alloway in Scotland. It is the scene of the witches' dance in the poem "Tam o' Shanter" by Robert Burns. '"The auld haunted kirk", with its little enclosed burying-ground, directly skirts the road. The four walls unroofed, remain around the enclosure in which Tam saw "The dead in their last dresses", the winnock bunker in the east, "where sate the enemy" is a conspicuous feature, being a small window, divided by a thick mullion ; marks of other openings may be detected, more of them being closed up, through which the hero obtained glimpses of the unhallowed rites performed by "witches and warlocks" as preliminaries to the dance'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I.