Anger as vandals wreck a landmark
an historical West Lothian landmark has been partially demolished by vandals.
the Witch craig Wall, near torphichen, has been targeted by thugs who went on the rampage last week.
Various rocks specially chosen to represent each of the places you can view from the site have been detached, including basalt cobble from Queensferry and granite from arran.
and a 700-year-old refuge stone which normally sits within the wall enclosure was toppled.
Councillor stuart Borrowman, who was contacted by a group of people who found the carnage, is now trying to get the wall fixed.
He said: “I hoped that it wasn’t true but they sent me some photographs and I was absolutely horrified. this is a very special place. Historically this area has been important for religious, cultural and community reasons for centuries. to think that the refuge stone and the stone circle would be damaged not by accident, but clearly by somebody having a sustained effort, is very distressing.”
the refuge stone represented a place of immunity from the law in medieval times. Now Councillor Borrowman is calling on the police to trace the culprits.
He continued: “to think that someone would deliberately go about damaging something like this is sad. Whoever this has been has travelled a distance to do damage to something that is a nice local amenity and something people feel warm towards. Who were they trying to impress?”
He added: “I’m going through the council’s relevant officials to see what resources they have available.
“I would like to think that the culprits would be caught but the most important thing is that this is restored to its original state.”
Landowner andy gibbs, who is responsible for the upkeep of the site, said: “I was very distressed to hear about this damage. the senselessness of it all is puzzling.
“When we put it up there was about £10,000 of graft that went into it. the police have been notified but there is little chance of catching the culprits. We’re definitely going to be fixing the damage but there’s a lot of work to be done so at this stage we’re not sure how much money that will take.”
a spokesperson for Historic Environment scotland said: “We were disappointed to hear reports of recent damage at Witch craig, and our staff are currently organising a visit to assess the situation.”