Story of Tam o'Shanter retold in mural

Storyteller: Chris Rutterford with his mural.

A mural inspired by one of Robert Burns's best-known works has been unveiled at the bard's birthplace museum.

The 56ft-long Tam o'Shanter mural retells the story of a man who stays too long at a public house and witnesses a disturbing vision of witches and warlocks at a haunted kirk while he is riding home on his horse Meg.

It has gone on display at the museum in Alloway, Ayrshire.

The mural was created by Edinburgh-based artist Chris Rutterford and is in the style of a graphic novel.

It is made up of a series of 7ft boards depicting more than 60 life-sized characters, including Tam and Meg.

The original Tam o'Shanter manuscript is already on display at the museum, which combines the cottage where the poet was born and the Burns Monument, and incorporates the sites of Tam's ghostly encounters at the Auld Kirk and Brig o' Doon. Tam o' Shanter was first published in 1791.

Mr Rutterford, who studied illustration at Leeds Metropolitan University, said: "I'm so excited to tread in Burns's footsteps. It hit home for me when I stood on the Brig o' Doon for the first time - it really is no place to gallop your horse.

"The picture is a dream commission - it's great to have the space to clothe Burns's masterpiece in an epic widescreen format."

Nat Edwards, director of the birthplace museum, said: "This installation is absolutely breathtaking - bursting with all of the energy and menace of the original poem.

"It is just so fitting that you can see such a contemporary interpretation as well as the original manuscript of the poem that inspired it. Burns would have loved it."

The installation will be on display until November 16. It will then be moved to the Bristol Bar in Glasgow's east end.

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