Historical Swimming

Robbie Burns & Cold Water

Ria Bleathman · 28 August 2026

Robbie Burns & Cold Water

On the day of 25th January 1759, was the birth one of the most notable Scots, the poet and lyricist, Robert Burns. What is less well-known about Burns is his fatal connection with cold water swimming. Burns died from a mystery illness at the young age of 37 after years of failing health.

Despite myriad conjectures and theories about the cause, many now believe that his untimely death was hastened by cold water swimming. Diagnosed with ‘flying gout’, and in a desperate attempt to prolong his life, Burns set off from his home in Dumfries Scotland to the Brow Well, a spring rich in iron salts just west of the village of Ruthwell. There, he was advised to "take the waters" by drinking from the Brow Well and bathing chest deep in the cold tidal waters of Solway Firth.

The cure failed and Burns returned to Dumfries where he died a few days later on 21st July 1796. Modern doctors believe that Burns died of a heart condition called endocaritis and that the ‘kill or cure’ remedy of sea-bathing probably hastened his death. With Burns’ passing, the world lost a notable talent but it stands as a salient reminder that cold water swimming is not for the faint-of-heart.

Photos: Robert Burns Memorial, Treasury Gardens, Melbourne. Erected by the Caledonian Society in 1904, plus the Brow Well.

By Ria Bleathman, (Reproduced from the Brighton Iceberger Newsletter 19 Jan 2023).

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