Fodor's Expert Review Auld Kirk Alloway

This small ruined church is famous for its role in Burns's epic poem, "Tam o' Shanter," which many Scots know by heart and is often recited at Burns Suppers. In the poem, the kirk is where a rather drunk Tam o' Shanter unluckily passed a witches' revel—with Old Nick himself playing the bagpipes—on his unsteady way home. In flight from the witches, Tam managed to cross the medieval Brig o' Doon (brig is Scots for bridge; you can still see the bridge) just in time. His gray mare, Meg, however, lost her tail to the closest witch. (Any resident of Ayr will tell you that witches cannot cross running water.)