Robert Burns topped the poll, with Sir Hugh Munro a lowly fourth. Photo: Callum Bennetts/Maverick Photo Agency
A pioneering Victorian mountaineer lost out to Scotland’s most famous poet in a charity’s poll to find the top representative of the nation.
Sir Hugh Munro came a distant fourth in the National Trust for Scotland’s Great Scot vote, which was won by Robert Burns.
The man who charted Scotland’s 3,000ft mountains trailed Burns, architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh and itinerant royal Mary Queen of Scots, polling only 14 per cent of votes compared to Burns’s 44 per cent.
Thousands of votes were cast online and at NTS properties throughout March and April. Only at Glencoe Visitor Centre was Burns’s dominance challenged. Sir Hugh Munro took the top spot at the venue surrounded by several 3,000ft peaks.
The conservation charity selected the five historical ‘heroes’ whose stories and incredible achievements had a profound impact on Scotland’s history, architecture and landscape and asked the public to select their Great Scot.
Chris Waddell, learning manager at the trust’s Robert Burns Birthplace in Alloway said: “We were always confident that Burns was going take the Great Scots title.
“For many he is Scotland’s soul. Votes for him came from all over the world, showing that not only is he still weel kent at home, but that he remains one of Scotland’s best global ambassadors too.”
The results were:
- Robert Burns – 44 per cent
- Charles Rennie Mackintosh – 19 per cent
- Mary Queen of Scots – 16 per cent
- Sir Hugh Munro – 14 per cent
- Flora MacDonald – 7 per cent.
