Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 120

sight down Buchanan Street went clean over the south side of the
city to Cathkin Braes. Most of the old parks were centered on hills
with similar views; the only problem was liable to be that the
Victorians had a great fondness for planting trees on the summit
of the parks, so that the views were either limited ones from the
surrounding slopes or restricted to avenues.
Glasgow Green, which I had already investigated as the old-
est park (1662) and because of its astronomical associations, was
just across the river from the Nautical College, which at that time
had two telescopes and a planetarium that was shown to visiting
parties. Glasgow Green surrounds the People's Palace, which for
many years was the home of the Fulton Orrery - an enormous cre-
ation demonstrating the Solar System out to Neptune. At the time
of the project the orrery was in storage, and after some years at the
Museum of Transport, it has now been reassembled at the Kelv-
ingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The main attraction from the
megalith viewpoint was an imitation Egyptian obelisk commemo-
rating Nelson, but unfortunately Glasgow Green is low-lying and
flat, so the skyline is filled by trees and surrounding buildings. The
obelisk isn't aligned to the cardinal points, either.
In all, 18 possible sites were marked for investigation for me.
To make the initial checks, I was entrusted with a Miner's Dial - a
giant compass on a heavy duty tripod, beautifully made in brass
and kept in a padded wooden box. This device was so useful that it
was to reside with the project, off and on, for more than a year. Its
one peculiarity was that it showed west to the right of the north-
south line, and east to the left, with 360° bearings likewise running
round the dial the “wrong” way. The explanation is that because
mine galleries are often awash - especially in rescue situations
where maps are most needed - mine maps are drawn to be read by
the helmet lamp of a man lying on his back, holding the map up to
the roof. The Miner's Dial was designed to be used aboveground in
conjunction with the below-ground maps.
If we had used the Dial upside down, it would have matched
the orientation of the sky. In 1973 that led to considerable confusion
at a lecture I gave to the British Interplanetary Society, mentioning
the southwest proper motion of Arcturus. This was challenged by
Alan Bond, who said it was southeast. My source had been Camille
Flammarion's Les Étoiles, and Bond later agreed that the direction