Farewell from fans as stones prepared for move
Campaigners gather for last spring equinox before objects relocated
THEY are a solid stone reminder of a dim and distant past which have unobtrusively marked the movements of the heavens for the past three and a half decades.
Now campaigners have bid farewell to the circle of stones known as Glasgow’s Stonehenge on the last spring equinox before they are moved from their current position in the city’s Sighthill Park.
Fans of the Sighthill Stone Circle have fought to save them after it was announced that they were to be removed amid a large-scale regeneration of the area.
They gathered yesterday for the last chance to celebrate a celestial event at the circle after hearing they will be given a new lease of life at a site in the east of the park.
Duncan Lunan, who led the original project and the campaign to save the 17 stones, said the day was dedicated to the four Glasgow-based scientists who inspired the project in the late 1970s.
He said: “I reminded people about the four Glasgow-based scientists the stones are dedicated to; Professor Alexander Thom, Dr Archie Thom, Dr Euan Mackie and Professor Archie Roy.
“And I also reminded people of the scientific instrument-maker John Braithwaite, who was instrumental in the original project and who died four years ago.
“The good news is that we have been given confirmation that the stones can be moved without breaking them, and they will be re-sited somewhere in the east of the park.”
The stones were put up in 1979 as part of a project created to help the unemployed, while also mobilising the city’s youngsters. The idea of building a Neolithic-style circle came from a young schoolgirl who won a competition. There are 16 blocks of rough-hewn whinstone which form the perimeter of the circle, with a large final stone, weighing more than four tonnes, completing the ring.
They were originally lifted into position by a Royal Navy helicopter, although funding was cut before the project could be completed and some of the blocks were never put up.
Although largely forgotten until the decision to remove them was announced, they remained a popular meeting place and councillors were accused of misjudging the depth of feeling against their destruction.
News of their proposed departure led to a campaign to save them backed by key figures in the cultural community, including Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist with the rock band Mogwai, and the son of John Braithwaite.Acclaimed author and artist Alasdair Gray and Professor John Brown, the Queen’s official astronomer to Scotland, also backed the campaign. The row over the stones led last year to an apology from the council over its public handling of the affair.
The spring equinox , one of two days of the year when the length of the day and night are an almost equal 12 hours across the world, was marked with a day of making ceramic pieces using a traditional outdoor paper kiln with ceramicist Kevin Andrew Morris.
The circle is situated to mark sunrise and sunset at the solstices and is aligned to Rigel, the seventh brightest star in the night sky.
Mr Lunan said the stones were an important part in a chain which stretches back to the distant past. He said: “We know Glasgow Cathedral was built on a neolithic site and there’s a direct line to Summerhill in Glasgow, where summer solstice fairs were held right up until the 17th century when the Church put a stop to them.
“There is a link going back to neolithic times, and people from then would have liked to know they are remembered in this way.”
We‘
know that Glasgow Cathedral was built on a neolithic site. There’s a direct line to Summerhill, where summer solstice fairs were held