Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 113

could be replaced by teenagers without educational qualifications.
In fact, the Project was terminated in February 1980, by which
time I had already left. A great deal of valuable work was wasted,
particularly on the construction side, where the sundial to over-
look the River Kelvin was waiting only for clearance from the
Insurance Department, and the castings for Gavin Roberts's model
of the Solar System had been ordered.
Such expanded activities, however, lay far out in the realm of
maybes in March 1978. The first month was not easy, and I wasn't
encouraged by an article by Brian Aldiss in Fantasy and Science
Fiction [ 9 ], praising me among others for having remained full-time
writers despite the odds - just when I had given it up. Ken Naylor
had told me I would need to be 'self-motivated,' and as the only
team member, that meant that initially I was talking to myself. It
took some time to realize that the Astronomy and Space Centre
study was not the project's first priority, and that the requirement
for a “mini Stonehenge” had to come first. There might be other
possibilities, e.g., sundials for the parks, but they would require
more skilled personnel and take more time than I had in hand. The
Project was expected to close in December 1978.
There was a strong case for building a “modern megalith.” As
well as fulfilling the MSC brief, it seemed it would arouse public
interest and become a tourist attraction. But it would also serve as a
tribute by the city to the Thoms, Roy and Mackie, all of whom have
close connections with Glasgow. Professor Thom was previously the
first Reader in Aeronautics at Glasgow University, and Dr. Thom was
Acting Professor of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics there at the
time, while MacKie was Assistant Keeper at the University's Hunte-
rian Museum. Roy was Senior Lecturer in the Astronomy Depart-
ment. By building an astronomical megalith, the first apparently for
3,000 years, the city would be paying tribute to its most prominent
researchers in the field. There was no doubt about the degree of pub-
lic interest, for the growing tourist traffic at Stonehenge had forced
the curators to close the circle to the public, to protect the site.
But despite the reference in the brief to a “mini Stone-
henge,” and the winning competition entry that had proposed a
replica of Callanish, the circle could not be a copy of any ancient
site. Neither a “mini-Stonehenge” nor a replica of Callanish
would work in Glasgow in the twentieth century. The rising