Looking back with Ian Scott at Rabbie Burns' visit to Carron

In August 1787 he arrived in the town after a brief visit to Linlithgow and Bo’ness – a dirty ugly place he said in his journal – they came through “the rich carse of Falkirk” to pass the night in the Cross Keys Inn at the east end of the High Street where a beautiful plaque reminds us of the visit. Also in his journal he said “Falkirk: nothing remarkable” which was a bit of a cheek but on the following morning he did pay his respects at the tomb of Sir John de Graeme. He wrote a letter from Stirling which reported “Today I knelt at the tomb of Sir John de Graeme, the gallant friend of the immortal Wallace”. Later, along with his travelling companion Willie Nicol, he crossed the “grand canal” to Camelon which he called “the ancient Metropolis of the Picts”.

His next port of call was to Carron to visit Carron Ironworks, established in 1759, the year of the poet’s birth. Like many travellers before and after him he was anxious to see the great iron foundry which was already an established point on the tourist route, a wonder of the age with its flaming furnaces and thundering hammers. It was more famous than the poet himself and Rabbie must have assumed that if he turned up at the door unannounced he would be given the guided tour but things did not work out quite as planned. Firstly, it was a Sunday when visits were not encouraged, secondly it was an all ticket affair and he had not applied in advance and finally he and Nicol appear to have given false names to the porter. Why they did this we don’t know, but the result was clear: no admission! Suitably rebuffed they retreated to the Carron Inn to drown their sorrows. While in Edinburgh he had been given the gift of a diamond tipped pen and now he eased his frustration by scratching a few lines of verse on the window.

We cam na here tae view your works,

In hopes tae be mair wise,

But only, lest we gang tae Hell

It may be nae surprise.

The second verse went on to pray that if they ever did turn up at the gates of Hell they might meet the same porter and that the result would be the same: ‘You’re no getting’ in!’ A few days later with the poet far away on his Highland tour, the Carron blast furnace clerk, William Benson, saw the verse on the window and decided to reply in kind. His witty response appeared in the work’s order book as follows:

If you came here to see our works

You should have been more civil

Than to give a fictitious name,

In hopes to cheat the Devil.

Six days a week to you and all,

We think it very well,

The other if you go to church,

May keep you out of Hell!

We know that Rabbie did come back to Carron a few months later and this time was shown round the works. He was, we are told, suitably impressed. We have no idea if he read Mr Benson’s reply but I’m sure he would have found it as clever and amusing as we do today.