The Brow Well

Today's the day ........................ for a last resort

Brow Well is a chalybeate  spring with natural iron-salt rich water that was believed would cure a multitude of ills.

During the 1700s, spas with mineral-rich waters became fashionable locations to visit in the pursuit of health and beauty.  Sea-bathing also emerged as an efficacious, healing activity.  When the health of Robert Burns began to fail in 1796, he visited the Brow Well on the advice of his doctor, to cure what we now know was rhumatic fever. The 'cure' comprised drinking the waters of the well and bathing in the Solway Firth.  Unfortunately, neither activity proved successful and he died shortly afterwards on 21st July 1796.

Brow Well has become a place for Burns' enthusiasts to visit and contemplate his life and poetry.  An annual commemoration service is held in July to mark the Bard's last days at the Well.  Some of the words surrounding the well feature in Burns' poem, 'A Prayer, in the Prospect of Death', in which he reflects on his mortality .......................