Photo - Burns House Museum, Mauchline

The Cowgate, known as The Coogate, and the once familiar low single storey thatched houses. This well known image is on page 31 of John Taylor Gibb's book, Mauchline Town and District, and is the oldest of the Coogate photographs. The tall sandstone building at the end of the lane on the left is built on the site of the Armour family home. (Jean Armour, wife of poet Robert Burns). On Loudoun Street, on the left of the Coogate stands the Cooperative building, gable end seen here, which was built on the site of the Whitfoord Arms, a hostelry familiar to Burns. The building here, which is still the current building dates from 1866. The image is taken from a small glass negative, and dates from the early 1870s according to page 30 of JTGs book. Therefore it must surely have been taken by Ballantine the photographer. John Taylor Gibb was born in 1864. It shows slightly more of the buildings than the reproduction from the lantern slide. Most images taken from original negatives usually do. Photographer - Probably Ballantyne of Mauchline (or Cumnock??) Original Media - Small Glass Negative

www.ayrshirehistory.com - On Line Slideshow of Auld Mauchline