Hotel marks Burns’ visit with a painting
Golden Lion lines up commemorative work
A painting is to be unveiled at the Stirling’s Golden Lion Hotel, marking both the birthday of Robert Burns and his visit there 230 years ago.
The specially commissioned work has been carried out by Glasgowbased artist William Dobbie. It will celebrate the poet’s stay at the hotel where he etched the infamous ‘Stirling Lines’.
During the summer of 1787, Burns left Edinburgh with his schoolmaster friend, Willie Nicol, to go to Inverness but during their trip, they lodged at the Wingate’s Inn – now the Golden Lion Hotel – in King Street.
While staying at the inn, Burns visited Stirling Castle and was outraged to find in a state of disrepair the ancient hall in which parliaments had occasionally been held under the Scottish kings.
This aroused his Jacobite sympathies and on returning to the Golden Lion Hotel he etched the ‘Stirling Lines’ onto his bedroom window reflecting on the successors of the Stewart race .
Burns scrawled on the window: “Here Stuarts once in glory reign’d, And laws for Scotland’s weal ordain’d; But now unroof ‘d their palace stands, Their sceptre’s sway’d by other hands. The injur’d Stuart line is gone, A race outlandish fills their throne An idiot race, to honour lost : Who know them best despise A man who stole alcohol has walked free from court.
David O’Hare, of Castle Vale Drive in Stirling, appeared at Stirling Sheriff Court on Wednesday.
The 43-year-old pleaded guilty last year to stealing alcohol from Tesco in Stirling on August 17.
The court heard O’Hare had been of good behaviour for three months, and he was admonished by Sheriff Wyllie Robertson. them most.”
The verse soon became notorious and were seen and read by every visitor who cared to view them. They were copied into many travellers’ note-books and as their popularity grew so did the scandal.
Robert Burns was eventually forced to return to Stirling that October to break the glass in order to avoid prosecution.
Still a thriving hotel, The Golden Lion continues to welcome many guests looking to follow in the footsteps of Robert Burns.
The hotel has named its newly refurbished bar and restaurant ‘Cronies’ to mark Burns and Nicol famously dining at the hotel with his Stirling Cronies including Lieutenant Forrester of the castle’s garrison.
This gathering has now been marked in the painting by William Dobbie and will be unveiled at the hotel on the Bard’s birthday by the Stirling Provost, Mike Robbins.
Paul Waterson, owner of the Golden Lion Hotel said: “Burns’ visit to the hotel is an important part of our heritage which we have celebrated throughout the years.
“The unveiling of this special painting will be accompanied by fayre, wine and rhymes - very much like his visit here.”
The Golden Lion Hotel was built in 1780 and the painting is to hang in the complex’s Cronies Bar and Restaurant where it is sure to be an item of interest and conversation for the many visitors.