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The Literary Intervention in Architecture- The Making of Burns Cottage as a Writer’s House Te-Ju Chen MPhil – The University of Edinburgh – 2016 Declaration of Authorship By signing this declaration, I confirm that this thesis has been composed by me, the work is my own and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification except as specified. The Author Te-Ju Chen i Abstract The concept of writers’ houses is a modern invention. Along with the growth of literacy popularity and the rise of modern writers, whose origins are no more of privileged class, their houses start to be pilgrimage destinations and places of interest. Most writers’ houses are protected for their connections with the writers rather than their architectural significance. Hence it is common to see that the presentation of the house emphasises this aspect more than other, although in some cases the writer’s history with the house is relatively short. Through the making of writers’ houses, we see how people’s expectation towards a place is affected by their perception of favoured history. This research aims to discover/ reflect on what the expectation towards a writer’s house has been made of, and how the expectation has led to spatial operations on the house in different times. Burns Cottage, the birthplace of the eighteenth-century poet Robert Burns in Alloway, is the earliest writer’s house developed in Scotland. As the development of the Cottage has undergone a long span of more than two and half centuries, it is a great example to demonstrate how people’s perception of a writer’s life and works has been transformed into their understanding of the house, and how the understanding has led to spatial operations developed with the spirit of Enlightenment, that of Romanticism, and that of modern era. ii Lay Summary The development of writers’ houses in Britain was initiated incidentally by the Jubilee celebration held in Stratford upon Avon in 1769. Along with the significant development of literary tourism in the nineteenth century, writers’ houses came to be a variety of pilgrimage destinations. Most writers’ houses are protected for their connections with the writers rather than their architectural significance. Hence it is common to see that the presentation of the house emphasises this aspect more than other, although in some cases the writer’s history with the house is relatively short. Through the making of writers’ houses, we see how people’s expectation towards a place is affected by their perception of favoured history. This research aims to investigate the assumptions and attributions of writers’ houses, and how they have led to spatial operations on the house in different periods of time. The eighteenth- century poet Robert Burns’ birthplace in Alloway, Burns Cottage, is the earliest writer’s house developed in Scotland and a great example to demonstrate how people’s perception of a writer has been transformed into their understanding of the house, and how the understanding has led to spatial operations on the house developed with the spirit of times. iii Table of Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Poetry and Architecture- Writers’ Houses .................................................... 1 1.2 Research Framework ................................................................................... 10 2 A Modern Writer in the Age of Enlightenment ................................................. 14 2.1 A Ploughman and a Poet ............................................................................. 16 2.1.1 Literacy and Enlightenment ................................................................. 20 2.1.2 The Ossian Vacancy ............................................................................. 31 2.2 The Development of Literary Tourism in the Eighteenth Century ............. 34 2.3 The Development of Burns Cottage in the Eighteenth Century .................. 45 2.3.1 The Auld Clay Biggin .......................................................................... 50 2.3.2 The Cottage Reform and the Effect of the Development of Picturesque Aesthetics ........................................................................................................... 58 2.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 63 3 The Cottage in the Age of Romanticism ............................................................ 67 3.1 The Development of Burns Cottage in the Nineteenth Century.................. 71 3.1.1 The Burns’ Head Inn ........................................................................... 72 3.1.2 Under the Trustees ............................................................................... 96 3.2 The Perception of Burns in the Nineteenth Century ................................. 120 3.2.1 The Publication of Life and Works .................................................... 121 3.2.2 Monuments, Statues, and Festivals .................................................... 129 3.2.3 Relics .................................................................................................. 152 4 The Presentation of Burns Cottage in the Age of Exhibitions ......................... 158 4.1 The Emergence of Replicas ....................................................................... 159 4.2 The Creation of Robert Burns Birthplace Museum/ Conclusion .............. 177 iv Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 196 Figures Fig 1 P. Taylor, ‘Robert Burns’, 1786-7, “a striking resemblance of the poet” (Scott), National Galleries Scotland .......................................................................................... 28 Fig 2 A. Nasmyth, ‘Robert Burns’, 1787, Scottish National Portrait Gallery ....................... 28 Fig 3 A. Reid, ‘Robert Burns’, 1795-6, “the best likeness” (Burns), Scottish National Portrait Gallery ............................................................................................................. 28 Fig 4 A. Skirving, ‘Robert Burns’, 1796-8, based on Nasmyth’s version, National Galleries Scotland ........................................................................................................................ 28 Fig 5 John Beugo (engraver), ‘Robert Burns’, 1801, engraving after Skirving’s painting, which was based on Nasmyth’s, Scottish National Portrait Gallery ............................. 29 Fig 6 A. Nasmyth, ‘Robert Burns’, 1828, based on the same artist’s 1787 version, National Galleries Scotland......................................................................................................... 29 Fig 7 Portrait of Burns, ascribed to W. Anderson, 1786, showed up once in the Burns Centenary Exhibition in Glasgow in 1896 and was rediscovered in Dundee in 1920 .. 29 Fig 8 Johan J. Zoffany, ‘David Garrick and his wife by his Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton’, c. 1762, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, image accessible through Wikimedia Commons ..................................................................... 40 Fig 9 ‘Ranelagh Gardens, Rotunta, &c. 1751’, image taken from London Ancestor (www.londonancestor.com) .......................................................................................... 40 Fig 10 Engraved print of ‘Sketch of Stratford Jubilee Booth or Amphitheatre, 1769’, © Victoria and Albert Museum, London .......................................................................... 43 Fig 11 James Saunders’ illustration of Shakespeare’s birthplace, 1828, collection of Shakespeare Birthplace Trust ....................................................................................... 43 Fig 12 Mauchlineware Inkwell, “made of wood grown on the banks of the Doon”, collection of RBBM (Robert Burns Birthplace Museum) ............................................................. 44 Fig 13 ‘Section from Burns’ Trysting Thorn, Mill Mannoch, near Coylton’, RBBM ........... 44 Fig 14 Pipe Case, “made of part of Burns’s Kist”, RBBM ................................................... 44 v Fig 15 Mauchlineware Spectacle Case, with a print of Burns Cottage on the front and inscription of “Souvenir of the Land of Burns” on the reverse, RBBM ........................ 44 Fig 16 ‘The House in which Burns was Born’, with the caption “drawn on the spot by W. Score”, “Aquantinted by R. Scott”, “Published by R. Chapman Printer, Glasgow”, 1801, collection of RBBM...........................................................................................