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This 30 acre park is located in the heart of Kilmarnock and features a network of paths and tree-lined avenues, duck pond and children’s play area.
The Park was gifted to Kilmarnock by local insurance broker Alexander Kay and when it first opened in 1879, the park housed an 80ft tall red sandstone monument built to honour local poet, Robert Burns. A sculptor from Edinburgh, W. G. Stevenson, was commissioned to build the statue.
Much of the original monument was destroyed by fire in November 2004. The iconic statue underwent an extensive cleaning and restoration programme in 2008 and was returned to its sandstone surroundings and new courtyard setting to form the centrepiece of the Burns Monument Centre.
Just beyond the northern edge of the Kay Park is a striking Corinthian column which was erected to the memory of Scottish pioneers of Parliamentary reform and unveiled by Lord Roseberry in 1885.
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.
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