Fundraiser launched to improve church where Robert Burns is buried

A CROWDFUNDING campaign has been launched to improve the grounds of a church where Robert Burns is buried.

To coincide with the bard’s birthday this month, a campaign has been launched to raise funds for St Michael’s and South Parish Church in Dumfries.

A target of raising £20,000 through crowdfunding has been set by organisers and funds raised will go towards improving church facilities and the “neglected” entrance and landscape of the church.

Burns spent the last seven years of his life in Dumfries and scores of visitors from around the world make pilgrimage to visit the kirk where he worshipped and his mausoleum that lies within the church grounds.

Burns also lived across the road from the church during his time in the town.

Fiona Lee, development officer at St Michael’s Church, said she wants to ensure the church building is fit for the future as well as encourage further research into the graveyard.

She said: “We’d like the whole site to become a place where people can come and discover connections with Dumfries, either through family or the myriad of interesting and influential people who have called Dumfries home for so many years.

(Image: Phil Wilkinson) “We are hoping to encourage research into the graveyard but we also need to make sure the church building is fit for the future and that the whole site is a welcoming and attractive place for tourists or anyone on a journey of pilgrimage, as people have been through Dumfries on the Pilgrim Trail following in the footsteps of ‘kings and commoners’ since the time of St Ninian.

“The entrance to the church and churchyard now looks sadly neglected and in need of both paint and repair.

(Image: Phil Wilkinson) "In partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Council, a scheme of immediate works to make the approach and entry to the site rather more attractive than the rather tired weed-filled peeling paint area it is at present [is what we would like].

“Recent time have not been particularly kind of Dumfries town centre, but the tide is turning fast with many organisations and businesses putting their best foot forward to welcome visitors and heighten the profile of this once thriving market town.”

Lee is hoping that enough money can be raised through crowdfunding to make the necessary improvements for the first and immediate phase of the development.

To find out more and donate to the cause, click here.