page_title: Irvine Harbour
section_title: Robert Burns and Richard Brown
hierarchical_section_title: Irvine Harbour / Robert Burns and Richard Brown
caption_attribution_description: English: Captain Richard Brown and Robert Burns at Fullarton Harbour, irvine Burns Club, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
context_page_description: The harbours serving Irvine at Seagatefoot and Fullarton in North Ayrshire have had a long and complex history. Irvine's harbour was one of the most important ports in Scotland in the 16th century. Across from the main harbour at Fullarton on the River Irvine there was also terminal for the ICI-Nobel Explosives plant on the River Garnock. Much of the harbour went into decline in the 19th century when Glasgow, Greenock and Port Glasgow achieved higher prominence as sea ports. There was still some commercial sea traffic linked to local needs, though the harbour went into further terminal decline in the 20th century. The weir on the River Irvine forms the formal upper limit of the harbour.
  Formerly owned by ICI, Irvine Harbour is now the property of NPL Estates who also own the Big Idea site, the Bridge of Scottish Invention, locally known as the 'Sliding bridge', and other land on the Ardeer peninsular. Irvine Harbour is now officially closed as a commercial port. Until recently NPL provided a slipway for dinghys, as well as moorings and berths for pleasure craft. However, silting has taken place and the Scottish Maritime Museum's berths are not for public use.
context_section_description: Captain Richard Brown, a good friend of Robert Burns, was born in Irvine, the son of a 'plain mechanic' named William Brown and his wife Jane Whinie. Richard had a wealthy patron who gave him a good education, however the patron died and his chances of bettering his situation in life were dashed. He went to sea where, after many ups and downs, he ended up being robbed by American Privateers and abandoned on the wild coast of Connaught. He had fought for the liberty of the Americans against the British, and the American struggle for freedom, obvious in the poet's early poems, the poets sympathy for the colonists can at least in part be attributed to Brown.
  Burns, who had lived in Irvine for around nine months, describes Richard Brown as "This gentleman's mind was fraught with courage, independence, magnanimity, and every noble manly virtue." Robert Burns wrote to Richard Brown, or Ritchie Broun, (1753–1833), on 30 December 1787, saying My will o' wisp fate, you know: do you remember a Sunday we spent together in Eglinton Woods? You told me, on my repeating some verses to you that you wondered I could resist the temptation of sending verses of such merit to a magazine.  Therefore, it was Richard Brown who inspired Burns and gave him the idea that he should publish his work. In confirmation, Burns wrote the following to Brown, Twas actually this that gave me an idea of my own pieces which encouraged me to endeavour at the character of a Poet.
caption: Robert Burns and Richard Brown with a view of Irvine Harbour.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E4600", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385", "Image DateTime": "2012:04:08 15:20:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2324", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6442", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10946", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/601", "EXIF FNumber": "33/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "104", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:06 14:40:18", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:06 14:40:18", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "42/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1712", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2288", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "6306", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "50", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "32B9EC00E9B44327956CD799F3647C2B", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "3866"}