Burns Monument & Kay Park

• The Burns Monument
• Kay Park

The 30 acre Kay Park in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, was purchased, laid out, and gifted to Kilmarnock by local insurance broker Alexander Kay.

"I consider it to be one of the greatest benefit to the inhabitants of large towns, and conducive both to their moral improvement and bodily health, that suitable parks or grounds should be provided, and kept open for their recreation and enjoyment; and as in towns which are rapidly increasing such places are seldom thought of till to late to acquire suitable ground for the purpose; and keeping in mind what has been recently done by Sir David Baxter and his sister for the town of Dundee, and that it is my wish, following such a good example, to confer a similar benefit on my native town of Kilmarnock."

Alexander Kay

Reformers Monument

The ‘Statue of Liberty in memory of the Reformers' also housed in the Kay Park was funded by public subscription and was unveiled by Lord Rosebery on 17th October 1885.

The striking Corinthian column was erected to the memory of Scottish pioneers of Parliamentary reform. In December 1816, 6,000 people met near the site of the present monument to protest against poor representation of Scotland in Parliament. Some who published speeches of dissent were imprisoned and are commemorated on an inscription on the plinth of the monument.

The column originally featured a statue of liberty which was toppled and destroyed during a storm in October 1936.