Eglinton Country Park - The Robbie Burns Connection

The Robbie Burns Connection

Robbie Burns wrote to Richard Brown, saying Do you remember a Sunday we spent together in Eglinton Woods and going on to say how he might never have continued with his efforts without this support. The Drukken or Drucken Steps near Stanecastle was a favourite haunt of Burns whilst he was living in Irvine. A commemorative cairn at MacKinnon Terrace next to the expressway stands some distance from the original site of the steps, the site of which does still exist. Another view is that the Drucken Steps were stepping stones on the course of the old Toll Road which ran from the west end of Irvine through the Eglinton policies to Kilwinning via Milnburn or Millburn; crossing the Redburn near Knadgerhill (previously Knadgarhill) and running past 'The Higgins' cottage, now demolished. The Higgins section is the only unaltered part where you can literally walk in the footsteps of Burns. The plaque on the commemorative cairn records that it was along this old toll road that Robert Burns and Richard Brown made their way to the woods of Eglinton.