Hello Julian, and thanks for the support. A few points need to be made in reply to that and the comments on it:
The circle is hundreds of yards from the nearest accommodation, not outside people’s windows as it would have been at some of the sites originally suggested.
Graffiti is not a problem because the site is so exposed that it quickly weathers off. The Ancient Monuments Commission recommended against cleaning the stones because it’s better to let them build up a natural patina.
The Broomhill site was indeed formerly a chemical works, but what of it? Before that, in the 18th century it was part of the largest dairy farm in Europe, and as its name implies, once it was covered with bushes. Solstice fairs were held on the Summerhill next door until the 17th century, and there are astronomical sight-lines from the Cathedral (which was built on an ancient site) to the Summerhill, and from the Summerhill to the Sighthill and to the former huge megalithic site at Knappers in Clydebank.
In its first vague form, the idea for the circle didn’t come from the MSC but from Ken Naylor, the Assistant Director whom the Parks Department brought in to head up Special Projects when they got the Jobs Creation money. He held a schools competition whose winning entry was to build a copy of an ancient site, in modern materials, to be an educational feature and visitor attraction. When I was brought in as Project Manager, I pointed out that that first we had to find a site, then design a structure according to ancient principles to fit the actual skyline. One that was agreed, I proposed to build it in stone and dedicate it to Prof. Alexander Thom, Dr. Archie Thom, Dr. Euan MacKie and Prof. Archie Roy, all prominent staff members of the University then or earlier.
I can’t speak for Jobs Creation generally, but nobody on Special Projects was a ‘wage slave’. All the vacancies required particular skills, and were advertised and applied for in the ordinary way. I was asked through Prof. Roy to be Manager of the Astronomy Project as a self-employed consultant, and the four of us who made up the stone circle team certainly believed in what we were doing. In addition we were in so much demand for exhibitions and classes in schools and libraries, that another six people were added in the second year – they too applied for the places and clearly got a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction from them.
The comment that really puzzles me is, “It never had a clear skyline in any direction. EVER. It could never "work". It wasn't completed.” The seventeen stones of the original design are all in place – what wasn’t completed was a follow-on plan to put in extra alignments with spare stones which the quarry supplied out of goodwill. The circle has 14 astronomical sight-lines, 13 of them to the natural horizon. The 14th might have had, in theory, but has proved to be obscured in practise – for now. Nine of them have been photographed and proven to work; the pictures are in my book “The Stones and the Stars”, published in November. None of them line up with the Glasgow University tower or the Royal Infirmary!
The comments you’ve had echo those made by Development and Renovation Services when I met with them in November. They insisted that the circle meant nothing to anyone and challenged me to prove otherwise. Thanks to the petitions started by our friends, we can now show from the comments on them that the circle means a great deal, to local people as well as visitors, in different ways. If it ever gets renovated and becomes the attraction it was meant to be, maybe then it will be seen to have all been worthwhile.
Best wishes,
Duncan.
