Pegasus at Wanlockhead

Robert Burns, Winter 1788/89

Recited by Amilia Wark 

While living at Ellisland, Burns was employed as an exciseman. This work involved long hours travelling the roads of Dumfriesshire on horseback. When Burns, mounted on his new horse Pegasus, called at the smithy in Wanlockhead one frosty day in the winter of 1788-9 the smith was too busy to frost the horse’s shoes. Burns composed these lines on the spot and addressed them to John Taylor, a man of standing in the community, who immediately spoke to the smith and rectified the matter. 

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.