Nithsdale’s Welcome Hame
Robert Burns, 1791
Recited by Keegan Shaw
While living at Ellisland, Burns wrote several poetical works which expressed Jacobite sentiments. William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale was sentenced to death after the 1715 Rebellion, but escaped from the Tower of London and died in Rome in 1744. His titles and estates were forfeited, but they were restored to his son, and his great granddaughter Winifred Constable-Maxwell began rebuilding Terregles mansion in 1789. Burns met her that year and identified with her as ‘Common sufferers in a Cause where even to be unfortunate is glorious, the Cause of Heroic Loyalty’. Lady Winifred, touched by this poem, gave Burns a snuff-box in 1791.
This poem is one of five works recited and recorded by Gold and Silver medallists in the Dumfries and Galloway Burns Association Schools Competition 2026 to create the Ellisland Poetry Trail. Follow the trail, scan and listen to explore more of Burns’s writing from his time at Ellisland as brought to life by Dumfries and Galloway’s finest young performers.
Special thanks to OASIS Youthwork and the Holywood Trust who supported this project.