Robert Burns comes out top in Great Scot poll

History: Visitors to National Trust for Scotland’s properties voted

National bard Robert Burns has been voted the public’s “Great Scot”, securing more than twice the votes of his nearest rival, according to a poll conducted at its visitor centres by the National Trust for Scotland.

Burns took the top spot comfortably, with 44% of the vote, well ahead of the iconic designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, with 19%.

Mary Queen of Scots scored 16%, Sir Hugh Munro, who produced the first list of mountains in Scotland over 3,000ft in 1891, polled 14%, and the Jacobite heroine, Flora MacDonald, fabled for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie escape “over the sea to Skye” received 7%.

Only at Glencoe Visitor Centre was Burns’ dominance challenged. Here, in the shadow of the great Aonach Eagach ridge, mountaineer Munro knocked the poet off his pedestal.

National Trust Scotland has been running the poll online and at selected properties over the past two months, as part of a campaign to raise funds for the Burns Monument in Alloway which is in need of vital repairs.

Thousands of votes were cast online and in person at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Culloden, Drum Castle, Glencoe Visitor Centre, the Hill House and Pollok House.

Chris Waddell, at the Trust’s Robert Burns Birthplace in Alloway, said yesterday: “We were always confident that Burns was going take the Great Scots title. For many he is Scotland’s soul. Votes for him came from all over the world, showing that not only is he still ‘weel kent’ at home, but that he remains one of Scotland’s best global ambassadors too.”

The trust had selected the five historical “heroes” whose fascinating stories and incredible achievements have had a profound impact on Scotland’s history, architecture and landscape and asked the public to select their “Great Scot”. The poll ran from March 9 until April 29.

The organisation’s Mark Bishop said: “It was fantastic to see the passion that the Great Scots poll inspired.”

From left: Charles Rennie Mackintosh received 19% of the vote, Robert Burns came top with 44% and Flora MacDonald came bottom with 7% of the vote.