Wedding ring and socks among most viewed items in Robert Burns portal

A pair of blue woolen knitted socks, believed to have been worn by Robert Burns, and his wife’s wedding ring, are proving to be the most popular items on an online portal featuring relics from the poet’s life.

Visitors to the portal, launched last year by The National Trust for Scotland, can view more than 2,500 items related to Scotland’s national bard.

The most viewed item over the past nine months has been a wooden box containing the wedding ring of Jean Armour, the poet's wife, flanked on each side by two other rings which hold pieces of their hair.

A pair of blue woollen knitted socks with the initials "RB" at the top, believed to have been worn by Burns, was the second most popular artefact. The size eight socks date to around 1770-1796.

The third most viewed relic was a fragment of the manuscript for Auld Lang Syne, while the fourth was a letter to theatre-owner George Sutherland.

A lock of Mary Campbell's hair, with whom Burns had made plans to emigrate to Jamaica, made up the top five most popular items to view.

National Trust for Scotland, which cares for the largest collection of Burns artefacts as well as the cottage he was born in, revealed the news ahead of Burns Night on Saturday.

"It seems to be personal objects that resonate with people"

Caroline Smith, NTS operations manager at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum in Alloway, South Ayrshire, said: "This list features some of my personal favourites from our collection.

"It seems to be the personal objects that resonate with people, and that they help them form a connection with Burns the man, the ordinary guy who wore socks, just as much as the famous words he wrote.

"The box of rings is an amazing item as it was quite popular at the time to keep a lock of hair, but it's very special that the rings have survived all these years.

"Jean's wedding ring is a precious item symbolising Burns's everlasting love, and it's hard not to feel the sentiment behind this.

"I think the initialled socks are incredible - just imagine your socks being kept and displayed in a museum almost 230 years after your death.

"I imagine him wearing these socks"

"There's something very humbling about them - they have clearly been worn and therefore mended a lot by someone, probably Jean, with a lot of care.

It's a simple object but when I see pictures of Burns amongst society in Edinburgh, I imagine him wearing these socks.

"Auld Lang Syne is probably Burns's most famous song, and one of the collection's hero objects.

"With only six manuscript copies of the song still known to exist, it is a significant piece of Scottish cultural heritage and one of great international importance too."

The letter to Sutherland features bird doodles on the back, which Ms Smith said she thinks "shows Burns's playful side".

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