<< Our Photo Pages >> Sighthill Park Stone Circle - Modern Stone Circle etc in Scotland in South Lanarkshire

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Modern SitesSite Name: Sighthill Park Stone Circle Alternative Name: Springburn Stones
Country: Scotland
NOTE: This site is 6.007 km away from the location you searched for.
County: South Lanarkshire Type: Modern Stone Circle etc
Nearest Town: Glasgow
Map Ref: NS5992266373
Latitude: 55.870103N  Longitude: 4.240213W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 3 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 5

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Sighthill Park Stone Circle
Sighthill Park Stone Circle submitted by Runemage : Site in South Lanarkshire Scotland Copyright L Lunan (Vote or comment on this photo)
Modern Stone Circle in Glasgow city. It was created in the late 1970s by amateur astronomer and science writer Duncan Lunan and the Glasgow Parks Astronomy Project to mirror the rise and fall of the moon and sun across Glasgow.

Duncan writes: "I first learned of the astronomy of ancient Britain when I studied under Dr Archie Roy (as he then was) in 1963-65, and he proposed me for manager of the Glasgow Parks Astronomy Project, which built the first astronomically aligned stone circle for more than 3000 years, in Sighthill Park in 1978-79."

"The original brief was to build a copy of an ancient site in modern materials, but once I had shown the need to design a new monument according to ancient principles, I urged that we build it in stone and dedicate it to Professor Alexander Thom, Dr Archie Thom, Dr MacKie and Dr Roy, all experts in ancient astronomy and all connected with Glasgow University and the city."

More than 30 years later, Lunan hopes to revive interest in the stone circle, which was built by the Glasgow Parks Astronomy Department using funds from the former Jobs Creation Scheme.

When money for the project was abruptly scrapped by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who thought the scheme 'ludicrous'. Four pieces of stone never made it to the circle and are now stashed under a nearby bush in Sighthill Park. It is hoped the circle can one day be completed as Lunan intended.

Read more, with a photo in The Herald and see also Wikipedia.

The Map Ref shown is currently the old location for the circle. Site is strictly in Glasgow city not South Lanarkshire but we for simplicity in finding the mostly rural sites we list, we don't have a category for Glasgow City

Note: The modern stone circle has been saved and repositioned close to the BMW dealership, more updates in the comments on our page. Please send us some photos or information about the new site if you have them
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Sighthill Park Stone Circle
Sighthill Park Stone Circle submitted by Flickr : The Sighthill Stones Site in South Lanarkshire Scotland Image copyright: Billy McDonald, hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Sighthill Park Stone Circle
Sighthill Park Stone Circle submitted by Runemage : Copyright L. Lunan Sighthill Stone circle (Vote or comment on this photo)

Sighthill Park Stone Circle
Sighthill Park Stone Circle submitted by Flickr : Sighthill Stone Circle (The Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project) Site in South Lanarkshire Scotland The last time I visited a Stone Circle in Glasgow it was as part of last years Glasgow International Art Festival where Jeremy Deller Image copyright: tom manley (tom manley), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.

Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
NS5966 : Benches, Sighthill Park by Richard Webb
by Richard Webb
©2011(licence)
NS5966 : Sighthill Park by Richard Webb
by Richard Webb
©2011(licence)
NS5966 : Sighthill Park by Thomas Nugent
by Thomas Nugent
©2013(licence)
NS5966 : The M8 motorway in Glasgow by Thomas Nugent
by Thomas Nugent
©2013(licence)
NS5966 : M8 - Looking West from Junction 15 by G Laird
by G Laird
©2008(licence)

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"Sighthill Park Stone Circle" | Login/Create an Account | 33 News and Comments
  
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Sighthill Park Stone Circle Street View (almost) by Andy B on Sunday, 27 September 2020
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The earthen platform in this view is where Sighthill Park Stone Circle now stands

https://goo.gl/maps/DX9e1Tof7TWZumwH6

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Great crown of stone - Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Friday, 01 May 2020
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Kenny Brophy writes: A year ago the new Sighthill stone circle was officially revealed to the media. Designed, as was the first iteration, by Duncan Lunan, this astronomically aligned stone circle has been constructed as a permanent and unique resource within the emerging new Sighthill just to the north-east of Glasgow city centre.

At the time when this new megalith began to emerge, it sat on a raised island amidst a giant muddy building site. Sighthill itself was yet to be reborn, the old variant having been more or less completely bulldozed and remediated as part of a £250 million redevelopment. The standing stones stood resplendent like teeth, their concrete foundations exposed like white gums. At the time they sat in a noisy landscape of construction, with the closest neighbour being a Mercedes car dealership, a Ballardian crash of epic proportions.

A year on, residential Sighthill is now growing slowly, although the stone circle remains (just) in glorious isolation. It still sits in a brownscape of mud amidst machines of construction, but it is slowly visually and metaphorically being lost in an urban skyline. Yet even now, driving west along the M8 into the city centre, the Sighthill’s second stone circle is a fantastic site / sight, emerging as it does on the horizon off to the left. A similar and wonderful view can be gained by the pedestrian by standing on Baird Street bridge over the motorway.

The stone circle is surely Glasgow’s Angel of the North, a great crown of stone on the horizon.

This photo essay (my rather grand description of what is basically a series of photographs) documents the time I was privileged to spend in and around the stone circle on 20th March 2019 thanks to a kind invitation from Duncan.
https://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/great-crown-of-stone/
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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Anne T on Friday, 23 February 2018
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Also see Canmore ID 320490 for more information.
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Sighthill Park Stone Circle Recreated by Andy B on Tuesday, 20 June 2017
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Duncan Lunan writes:
This page is to document the recreation of the Stone Circle. Please keep coming back to be updated on the progress of the Stone Circle's recreation.

Photos and The Herald's coverage of the start of the recreation of the Stone Circle. (page 8 - News)

http://www.duncanlunan.com/stonecirclerecreated.asp

19th June 2017 - BBC Radio Scotland's "News Drive" Coverage"

To listen to Duncan on BBC Radio Scotland’s “News Drive” on the 19th June 2017 speaking about the recreation of Sighthill Stone Circle please go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08tbv58
at marker: 56:08 hrs approx
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Space and Scotland magazine covering the recreation of the Sighthill Stone Circle by Andy B on Thursday, 26 January 2017
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The new Space and Scotland magazine will be covering the recreation of the Sighthill Stone Circle

Read the first issue here (page 11 for Sighthill)
https://indd.adobe.com/view/7c0d5808-7688-40c7-bcd0-04087f70e943

http://www.actascio.org/spacescotland.asp
https://www.facebook.com/spaceandscotland/
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Duncan Lunan talks to Alyson Dunlop about how he set up Sighthill Stone Circle proj by Andy B on Wednesday, 07 September 2016
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Duncan Lunan talks to Alyson Dunlop about how he set up the Sighthill Stone Circle building project. The interview follows the song The Song of The Stones by Trobar De Morte

http://www.spreaker.com/user/enemywithinradio/31-duncan-lunan
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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Thursday, 21 July 2016
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Duncan Lunan writes: In April, contractors for Glasgow City Council went ahead with the demolition of the Sighthill stone circle, which I designed and built as Manager of the Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project in 1978-79. As promised, great care was taken with the removal of the stones and they all came out intact, and were buried near the intended site for re-erection. The topsoil was also removed and preserved, and those whose loved ones' ashes have been scattered at the original site have been promised that they will be replaced at the new one. The event was extensively covered by the media and on the City Council website, and a report by Gerry Cassidy is in the current issue of The Word on the Streets.

The time capsule was recovered from the foundation of the central stone; the lid came off, which wasn't unexpected given the problems we had with it at the time, but the real surprise was that the sealed packages inside were outwardly intact. They will be reburied unopened, with new additions, when the circle is regenerated. Contracts for the next phase are expected to be awarded before the end of the year, and discussions are ongoing.

http://www.duncanlunan.com/blog.asp?blogid=13150
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    Sighthill Stone Circle Video by Glasgow City Council by Andy B on Wednesday, 21 June 2017
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    The standing stones of Sighthill Park – known as the Sighthill Megalith [really? - MegP Ed] – are being removed temporarily as part of the £250million regeneration of the area. The removal work began on 7 April. The stones and top layer of soil will be removed, with the stones to be stored and eventually housed in their new resting place.

    The Stone Circle was established in 1979 by the then Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project, and guided by Scottish author Duncan Lunan. The Stone Circle will be relocated within the new park, to the south east of the current site of the Circle. This is the original site that Mr Lunan had chosen, however this location was not suitable at the time due to the multi storey flats obscuring the horizon sight lines.

    The land remediation work in Sighthill Park is part of a five year programme of works, due to finish in 2019, to deliver: almost 800 new high-quality homes for sale and rent; a new community school campus; a new footbridge across the M8, creating a ‘street in the sky’ to connect Sighthill with the city centre; a new road bridge across the railway to link Sighthill and Port Dundas; and improved parkland, allotments and public spaces.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuGMJBr2B9Y
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Last Event at Sighthill Park Stone Circle on Sunday 20th March by Andy B on Monday, 21 March 2016
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Last Event at the Stone Circle
The Paper Kiln Event at Sighthill Stone Circle on Sunday 20th March 2016 was the very last event at the Stone Circle as it will be taken down in the first week in April.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1086121661427305/

A Spring Equinox event with the opportunity to fire ceramic pieces using a traditional outdoor paper kiln at the Sighthill Park Stone Circle with ceramicist Kevin Andrew Morris.

http://kevinandrewmorris.daportfolio.com/

Article in the Herald newspaper:
http://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-herald/20160321/281968901806801
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Glasgow City Council confirm stone circle to be saved and repositioned in new park by Andy B on Monday, 07 March 2016
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From Sighthill Regeneration Neighbourhood News:

The Stone Circle was established in 1979 by the then ‘Glasgow Parks Department Astronomy Project’, and guided by the Scottish author Duncan Lunan. The Stone Circle will be relocated within the new park, to the south east of the current location of the Circle.

This is the original site that Mr Lunan had chosen, however this location was not suitable at the time due to the multi storey flats obscuring the horizon sight lines. Discussions continue with Mr Lunan who will work with the Council and the Contractors when the stones and top layer of soil are removed, stored and eventually housed in their new resting place.

Source:
https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=32349&p=0
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Photo of the helicopter delivering the stones of Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Monday, 15 February 2016
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Ken Smith, captioning a photo in the Glasgow Herald: If only our forefathers had helicopters, life would have been so much easier. This is Sighthill Park in Glasgow in 1979 when the city's council had the rather quirky idea of building a stone circle in order to give the small park, created on wasteland near Springburn after the building of a nearby motorway, a bit of identity.

The stones, up to seven feet tall and weighing two tons, were airlifted from a quarry in Kilsyth with the help of this Royal Navy Sea King helicopter. And it is not a haphazard circle - an astronomer was hired to line the stones up exactly to give lunar readings.

They were also cemented into place as the Glasgow Herald of the time diplomatically put it: "To discourage local enthusiasts from carrying out spontaneious alterations."

See the photo at
http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14274496.display/
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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Enki on Thursday, 14 January 2016
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I've updated my Stellarium landscape of Sighthill stone circle with better imagery. You can download it, together with other lanscapes of interest, from The Geomancy Group.

It was too cloudy on the day to see the northern minimum standstill moon, but here's how the moonset on Boxing Day looks in Stellarium:

http://geomancygroup.org/stella/sighthill-n-standstill-moonset.png
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    Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by cerrig on Thursday, 14 January 2016
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    The website link doesn't seem to work [fixed] for me Enki, but the circle image is fine, very nice. What method do you use to get a landscape into Stellarium, and how do you align it accurately?
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      Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Enki on Monday, 18 January 2016
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      It's a bit of an involved process and there are several ways to create a landscape, of which the easiest is to make a panorama with the left-hand edge marking due east. This is how I do it most of the time. You can also work it by creating a GPS baseline and calculating azimuth offset from north, which is more accurate.

      Click here to read my blog post about creating some recent landscapes; it includes a link to the Stellarium Wiki where you can find more detailed instructions. Getting it into Stellarium is usually just a matter of unzipping the file to your Stellarium Landscapes directory - the location of that may vary depending on your OS; the readme.txt file in the zip file has more details.
      [ Reply to This ]

Solar and Lunar Events at the Sighthill Stone Circle on 25th December 2015 by Andy B on Monday, 19 October 2015
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[Something to do in Glasgow if you're fed up with the usual Christmas Day rigmarole!)

Duncan Lunan writes: In September and October 2015 the Moon has been at its Minor Standstill, at the intermediate points between the extreme positions of its 18.61 year cycle. At the stone circle which I built in Sighthill Park in Glasgow in 1979, the first astronomical one in the UK for over 3000 years, these are the only events marked by the stones which have never been observed and photographed. A year either side of the standstill would be accurate enough for photographic purposes, but there has still been only one success in trying to catch the Moon at its furthest north and south each month. The removal of the circle for the area to be redeveloped was scheduled for December 2015, although the City Council has promised that efforts will be made to remove the stones intact and reposition them elsewhere. But the best chance this year to photograph two of the other three minor standstill events will be on December 25th, just after the solstice, and I have asked the Planning department for the stones to remain in place till then.

As it happens, on December 25th the Moon will rise and set in its northerly minor standstill positions, over the marker stones, and it will be a Full Moon, so the events will take place around the time of sunrise and sunset. Furthermore, the Moon will be at its closest to Earth for the month (at perigee) on the 21st, so although the Full Moon on the 25th December won't quite be a 'supermoon', it will look particularly big and bright when near the horizon. The position of the Sun on the horizon hardly changes for three days before and after the winter solstice, which this year is on December 22nd, so on the same day the Sun will also rise and set over the relevant marker stones in the southern arc of the circle.

Normally the Full Moon rises roughly as the Sun sets, but in this case the Moon is far in the north and the Sun far in the south, so our northerly location makes a bigger difference than usual. According to Heavens-Above.com, on December 25th the Moon will set in the northwest at 07:55 hrs. The Sun will rise at 08:45 hrs. The Sun will set at 15:50 hrs and Moonrise in the northeast will be at 16.50 hrs. However those times are approximate because they are calculated for a true horizon and don't take atmospheric refraction into account. From the heights of the horizon we can therefore predict that the Moonset will be slightly earlier, the sunrise will be roughly on time, sunset will be slightly earlier, and the Moonrise will be slightly later; but experience has shown that air temperature and other atmospheric conditions can change the times still more.

The plan is therefore to make a day of it, weather permitting, and have lunch somewhere nice in the course of it. There is a chance that the circle will have a great astronomical finale at its present location, so if the weather is any good we intend to be there for the rises and sets, and all friends will be welcome.

If you are interested in joining us please call Duncan on 01292 739014 or e-mail [email protected] for full details.

More at:
https://www.change.org/p/glasgow-city-council-should-scrap-their-plans-to-demolish-sighthill-park-and-its-stone-circle/u/13832851
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Sighthill Stone Circle update, June 2014 by Andy B on Tuesday, 24 June 2014
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Duncan Lunan writes: It’s good to see that interest in the future of the stone circle is continuing. The online petition started by Mandy Collins has now reached and passed its target of 5000. We had thought that would be the end of it, but the target has now jumped to 8000, so we’ll let it continue!

At the moment the situation is fairly good, but there are a number of issues still to be resolved. The most important is that we now have a commitment in writing from Glasgow City Council for the first time. The planning approval for redevelopment which has been issued to the architects specifies that the stones should be removed intact if possible, for re-erection at a site still to be decided. For their part, the architects are quite confident that because of the way they were put in, it should be possible to reverse the process and extract them one at a time without breaking them, despite the brittleness of the whinstone.

Current thinking is that a part of the existing park will be preserved on the eastern end of the Broomhill top, and there will be a wildlife corridor leading round the hill to it. Of the possible new sites which the architects suggested to us, that is the best. It’s where I first went up on to the hilltop in 1978, and even then it had a great surrounding skyline which was obscured only in the northeast quadrant, where the last blocks of flats are now scheduled for demolition.

The redevelopment plan calls for the highest point of the hilltop, where the circle now stands, to be cut off and lowered by up to 12 metres. The material will be used to flatten most of the existing park to make a plateau, to be occupied by arcs of new housing. That would obscure the northwestern quadrant of the horizon at the proposed new site, so blocking the midsummer sunset and its flanking lunar alignments for the time being. We have to think in terms of thousands of years, during which buildings will come and go both nearby and on the skyline, but we also have to think of present-day requirements.

Midsummer sunset has been the most popular event at the circle since it was built, and the most organised support for the campaign to save it has come from the Druid and Pagan communities, of which the City Council is now very much aware. I have therefore been stressing that if we aren’t going to be able to see midsummer sunset, every effort should be made to preserve a clear sightline to the spring and autumn equinox sunsets, virtually due west by the University spire, with the afterglow showing through it – as in Linda’s photograph in “The Stones and the Stars”, reproduced by Dr. David Clarke in his book “Reflections on the Astronomy of Glasgow”.

The questions about the exact placing of the circle remain to be answered, and they will have to wait until the design of the housing on the hilltop has been finalised. Meanwhile, although the Druid and Pagan groups have officially bid farewell to the site, tokens of respect and affection, for the stones and for the people whose ashes are scattered there, are still being left, and the astronomical story may not be quite over.

More at
http://www.duncanlunan.com/blog.asp
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Stone Circle update, April 14th by Andy B on Tuesday, 29 April 2014
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Last friday Duncan Lunan had a meeting with the architect for the development of Sighthill Park.

The Council/ planners are sounding positive about the stone circle.
They have agreed to add the stone circle to their plans of the area, but not in the current location, it will be moved to the east, just to the south-eastern edge of the park.

A planning condition has been attached for the Stone Circle elements to be stored within the application site for safekeeping until a future site can be identified to replace it.

The Stone Circle is to be relocated nearby with astronomical re-alignment and sightlines to be preserved.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/180769502111636


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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Monday, 10 February 2014
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Something from the blog The Urban Prehistorian:

So the Sighthill stone circle is on the move, evicted from its current parkland location with spectacular views over Glasgow, to who knows where? Despite Glasgow being unsuccessful in securing the 2018 Youth Olympics, Glasgow City Council is making good on its promise to rebuild Sighthill regardless of the result of this bidding process, and at some point in the near future, the stones will be plucked from the earth (actually, forcibly removed from their concrete foundations), and plunged into an uncertain future. Despite over 5000 signatures being added to a petition to save the circle and the monument even having its own benefit gig in Glasgow over the summer, by the end of 2013, this stone circle may well no longer exist in its current form.

In this post, I want to focus not so much on the sense of loss and dismay felt by many people about this development (circle creator Duncan Lunan recently said he was ‘gutted’), but about the potential future of this monument, constructed just 35 years ago.

More at
http://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/heathen-stones/

Lots of other good stuff here if you're interested in the greater Glasgow area - another one being "The circle of boulders and the flat red school"
http://theurbanprehistorian.wordpress.com/2014/02/06/the-circle-of-boulders-and-the-flat-red-school/

[A bit of digging reveals that The Urban Prehistorian is the blog of the Neolithic Studies Group's very own Kenny Brophy]
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Acoustic gig on July 13th in aid of saving the stones by Andy B on Tuesday, 18 June 2013
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Ledgehammer writes: For anyone in the area I am playing a gig on July 13th in aid of saving the stones. More details soon.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=viewtopic&topic=5804&forum=4&start=0
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Summer solstice at Sighthill Park Stone Circle, Talk 20th June, Sunset on the 21st by Andy B on Tuesday, 18 June 2013
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The Creator Duncan Lunan is having a talk about the Circle, Thursday 20th June at
St.Aloysius RC Church Ogilvie Centre, 25 Rose Street, Glasgow, G3 6RE, 7pm to 8:30pm.

The main event at The Circle on the 21st will commence at 8:30pm, & Duncan Lunan will be giving a talk there as well.

Watch the Summer Solstice Sunset at approx 21:55pm.

More on their Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/events/379271435526279/
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Concert to Save the Sighthill Stone Circle, 27th July 2013 by Andy B on Tuesday, 18 June 2013
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SomeE of Scotland's leading musicians are to stage a concert in support of a threatened stone circle in inner-city Glasgow.

On the eve of the summer solstice, which will see various druid and pagan groups descend on the site, members of Mogwai and Arab Strap, along with several other key cutting edge figures in the Scottish music scene have been lined up for the gig to preserve Sighthill Stones.

It comes as Glasgow City Council faces calls to delay a decision on the creation of a new park until the future of the "mini-Stonehenge" is finally resolved.

The authority's ruling executive committee is being asked to vote on plans which would see the current Sighthill Park torn up and replaced. The new park is a core ingredient in the plans to transform the notorious Sighthill area, which is earmarked as the centrepiece in the bid for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

The stones are within the park planned for redevelopment, with their future determined by an ongoing report by external consultants.

More at
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scots-musicians-support-stone-circle-campaign.21327026

Concert to Save the Sighthill Stone Circle, 27th July 2013

Platform, Glasgow
Tickets - £6
Bus from Mono at 1630 returning at 2300 - £4
Doors 1700

Tickets available from Monorail, Tickets Scotland and Platform

Featuring Stuart Braithwaite, Aidan Moffat, Eugene Kelly, Emma Pollock, Remember Remember, RM Hubbert, Adele Bethel (DJ) and Very Special Guests.

http://brightlight-youngteam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/concert-to-save-sighthill-stone-circle.html

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Latest on the campaign to save the circle by Andy B on Saturday, 09 February 2013
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Duncan Lunan writes: On Wednesday February 6th we had a meeting with Richard Brown, Director of Development and Regeneration Services, and Colin Edgar of Glasgow City Council Communications, also attended by Bob Doris MSP. We have had an apology for the way the matter of the stone circle was initially handled, and we discussed the technical issues at length, but we still have no firm assurance about its future, so we need to keep up the campaign to save it.

Seemingly DRS does not have the records of the checks made at the end of the 1970s, but testing to date indicates that there is ‘made ground’ still lower down, which needs further testing and probable removal. If that proves necessary there is still a strong case for keeping the stones at their present location, and we must continue to stress that. What was most encouraging was the recognition that the circle is valuable as an educational feature and a visitor attraction, and that far more people care about than either we or the Council previously realised.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130728104435/http://www.sighthillstonecircle.net/
(Archived)
Needless to say the Megalithic Portal supports the campaign to save this circle and encourage visitors to sign the petition
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Petition to save Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Saturday, 09 February 2013
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Glasgow City Council should scrap their plans to demolish Sighthill Park and its stone circle

Currently with just over 3000 signatures:

http://www.change.org/petitions/glasgow-city-council-should-scrap-their-plans-to-demolish-sighthill-park-and-its-stone-circle
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MSP Bob Doris takes campaign to save Sighthill Stone Circle to Holyrood by Andy B on Saturday, 09 February 2013
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Bob Doris, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow, has called on Glasgow City Council to preserve a major landmark in Sighthill.

Sighthill Stone Circle faces demolition as part of the city’s preparations for the 2018 Youth Olympics bid. Locals have organised a campaign against the proposals, which has received wide backing from across the city. This includes well-known figures such as the authors Alasdair Gray and Duncan Lunan, the latter of whom was instrumental in organising the Circle’s construction in the 1970s.

Mr Doris said:

"Sighthill Stone Circle faces a double threat from the regeneration plans: the Council have said that it may have to be uprooted to facilitate tests for chemical contamination, and have also proposed a walkway which would run through the Circle’s current location."

"However, chemical testing was conducted when the Circle’s construction began in 1979, and campaigners have questioned the necessity of further tests. They have also suggested that, with a minimal diversion, the walkway could wind round the Circle rather than run directly through it. The Circle should be treated as enhancing the area, not as an obstacle to the regeneration plans."

"I have written to the Council to ask what consultation was carried out with locals when developing these plans, and to request that they consider the campaigners’ alternative proposals. In addition, a motion I lodged at the Scottish Parliament drawing attention to the threat has been signed by a significant number of MSPs, and parliamentary support continues to grow."

"It would be a huge loss to Sighthill’s modern heritage if the Circle were to be demolished, and I hope the Council will seriously consider the constructive suggestions put forward by the campaign."

If you are resident in Scotland, please ask your local Member of the Scottish Parliament to support Bob Doris’s motion below’

Motion S4M-05297: Bob Doris, Glasgow, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 21/12/2012

That the Parliament shares the concerns of local residents and others that Sighthill Stone Circle in Glasgow, which, it understands, is the UK’s only astronomically aligned stone circle built in modern times, may be demolished as part of the preparations for the city’s 2018 Youth Olympics bid; notes that planners have suggested that the site may have to be uprooted to perform testing for chemical contamination; understands that such tests were, in fact, carried out prior to the circle’s construction in 1979; notes also that there are plans for a walkway to run through the site; supports the alternative proposal by local campaigners for any walkway to wind around the circle instead, thus preserving it as a landmark, which it believes would enhance any Olympic development there, and calls on Glasgow City Council to rethink plans for demolition and retain this unique part of Sighthill's heritage.

More on the campaign at
http://www.sighthillstonecircle.net (Archived)
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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Andy B on Saturday, 09 February 2013
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Duncan Lunan the circle's creator writes:

Discussion of completing and renovating the stone circle has continued off and on since 2000. In August, at meetings with Land and Environment Services, I was assured there were no development plans which threatened the circle. On September 12 the Glaswegian published a plan on which not just the circle but the entire hill was removed. In October LES asked me for an updated report on the circle, which was attached to a case for keeping the park which they submitted to Development and Regeneration Services in November. On November 26th 2012 I was asked to a meeting with DRS at which I was told the circle would be demolished almost immediately, because the whole area had to be checked for chemical contamination in order to show Glasgow was serious about bidding for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

Discussion here
http://www.hiddenglasgow.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=12126&start=15
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Battle to preserve Sighthill stones as area has revamp by Andy B on Saturday, 09 February 2013
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It is being billed as Britain's first authentically aligned stone circle to have been erected in more than 3000 years, mirroring the rise and fall of the moon on a site of ancient astronomical interest.

But while it may be 4500 years younger than Stonehenge, a campaign is under way to save Glasgow's Sighthill Stone Circle from potential removal with the area in line for a multimillion regeneration in years to come.

An online petition has been launched to preserve the structure, created in the late 1970s by amateur astronomer and science writer Duncan Lunan but abruptly halted when Margaret Thatcher's government came to power, amid claims that removing it would also destroy local wildlife habitat.

More with a photo at
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/battle-to-preserve-stones-as-area-has-revamp.19530563

Sighthill revamp planned for Glasgow 2018 Youth Games bid
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-19517338
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Re: Friends of Sighthill Stone Circle on BBC Scotland by Anonymous on Thursday, 07 July 2011
It seems we should be grateful that there was no Margaret Thatcher around in the Neolithic/Bronze Ages or the mighty megalithic structures from those times may never have been completed, their funding withdrawn.
On the other hand, had she lived then, we may have been able to forget about her by now.
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Friends of Sighthill Stone Circle on BBC Scotland by Andy B on Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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Duncan Lunan and John Braithwaite on:
Radio Scotland Good Morning Scotland 21st June 2011 at approx 1hr 17mins 43 secs point on
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0120xs9/Good_Morning_Scotland_21_06_2011/

iPlayer links only live for a few days!

Here is the link for seeing Duncan and John on Scottish TV - Reporting Scotland.
It's around about the 22 minute mark.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0122hnk/Reporting_Scotland_20_06_2011/
[I can't get this link to work - AB]

Duncan and Linda Lunan
Friends of the Sighthill Stone Circle
http://www.sighthillstonecircle.net (Archived)
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Talk: Sighthill Stone Circle followed by solstice sunset up at the circle, 22nd June by Andy B on Thursday, 07 April 2011
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Location: Ogilvie Centre, 25 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RE
Date and Time: Wednesday, 22nd June 2011 at 19:30hrs.

The Talk: Sighthill Stone Circle by Duncan Lunan followed by Sun Set up at the Stone Circle.

Duncan is the creator of Sighthill Stone Circle and will (I assume) be speaking about how it came to be and how he proposes to restart its construction
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Re: A Stone Circle for Glasgow by Duncan Lunan by AngieLake on Wednesday, 06 April 2011
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Another link to the ongoing story of Sighthill circle:
http://www.kirkintilloch-herald.co.uk/lifestyle/lifestyle-leisure/sighthill_s_answer_to_stonehenge_could_be_boost_for_north_glasgow_1_1558308

There's a photo on the page, too, taken in the other direction to the ones on our site page, which shows the high-rise modern flats in the background, making for a rather surreal view!
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A Stone Circle for Glasgow by Duncan Lunan by Andy B on Tuesday, 29 March 2011
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The Sighthill Park stone circle was built in 1979 by the Glasgow Parks Dept. Astronomy Project, as part of the Jobs Creation Scheme in Glasgow, continuing as the Special Temporary Employment Programme. Appropriately, the main phase of planning and construction took a year and a day, as in the best fairy stories, and the circle was completed in its initial form at the spring equinox of 1979. I was Project Manager, supported by John Braithwaite as Technical Supervisor, Gavin Roberts as Arts & Photographic Supervisor, and the late Jean Coles as Secretary. In 1979 we had a larger team including the late Bill Braithwaite and Ian Downie, with Richard Robertson as draftsman and Dave McClymont as illustrator.

Despite the success of the helicopter operation which completed the main structure, after the change of government in 1979 we were ordered to halt construction and four stones remain unused on site to this day. After lying derelict for three years, when the circle was landscaped into the park I wasn't there to supervise and the plans were misread, so the height of the stones was much reduced. There is still nothing on the site to identify the circle, saying who built it, to whom it's dedicated or how it works.

In 2000 the Community Artist, Jim Campbell, suggested to me that we form a project to complete and renovate the circle, and after a number of setbacks, in 2010 there has been a renewal of interest and new plans for renovation are being discussed. The main aims are to complete and install a plaque explaining the circle, as above; erect two stones to mark sunrise and sunset at the equinoxes; restore the stones to their intended height; renew the staircase leading to the circle and create wheelchair access for the first time.

For at least two thousand years, and ending more than three thousand years ago, the British Isles supported one of the most advanced 'colleges' of astronomers in the ancient world. Their people built stone monuments in France and Spain, and in Scandinavia, and their influence is found in the Mediterranean, leading to arguments about where and how they interacted with other seafaring cultures like the Minoans. Astronomical alignments were built into their tombs in Ire­land, but it's in Brittany, on the English and Scottish mainland, and in the west­ern and northern isles, that their standing stones and circles have the charac­teristics of observatories. Almost certainly their interest in the movements of the Sun and Moon was prompted by navigation and by agriculture, and it is hard to imagine that key events like the solstices would not have been marked by religious rituals; but since no literature has come down to us, and there was no explicit carving on the stones, only the pure astronomy underlying the layout of the sites is still accessible.

The insight we have into that astronomy is very largely due to the work of Professor Alexander Thom, who with his son Dr. Archie Thom put decades of work into unravelling the geometries of the ancient sites. Much of that research was published in the 1960s, even before Professor Gerald Hawkins brought the subject into prominence with his book "Stonehenge Decoded". In the controversy which followed, many astronomers, including Dr. (now Professor) Archie Roy of Glasgow University, came to support the Thoms' contention that the neolithic Britons were indeed astronomers. Since they did not build in brick, and did not practise metalworking until late in their history, the megalith builders had to reduce positional astronomy to precise observation of horizon events, and these were marked with stones. Thom published a histogram, showing the alignments of the ancient sites in relation to the movements of the Sun, Moon and bright stars, and it was obvious that the relationships were far from coin­cidental.

Archaeologists, however, were critical. Thom's interpretations required a nationwide astronomical

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Re: Sighthill Park Stone Circle by Anonymous on Thursday, 17 February 2011
sighthill is in glasgow, lanarkshire and not as stated above as south lanarkshire.

thanks
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