Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 124

Coming on to the top in the wind and rain, knee deep in long
grass and rubble, was nevertheless dramatic enough to make the
whole day. I was on the extreme east of a near flat hilltop, deep
in trees and bushes, which was almost big enough to be called
a plateau. The going was very rough where I was because of the
foundations of earlier structures, but on the whole hilltop there
was nothing standing except two or three square towers, two or
three times the height of a man and built of wooden beams and
corrugated iron sheeting, which proved to be the dovecotes of the
local pigeon fanciers. What was absolutely amazing, since I was
only three-quarters of a mile north of the City Chambers, was that
I had an almost perfect true horizon right around the sky. The only
major obstacles were the high flats, back over my right shoulder,
and they could have spoiled one group of alignments at most. For
all the rest of the surrounding 360° the skyline was almost entirely
natural, yet low, and where buildings did rise above it they were
still low enough for rising and settings over them to be acceptable.
This was it! - if I could get it.
From the outset the omens were favorable. When I discussed
the site with Paul Green, the Special Project Manager, and Frank
O'Neill, the Shop Steward, photos were unearthed, and at first I
had trouble recognizing them. Then we realized that the former
Pinkston power station to the north had been demolished only
months before, taking with it a huge cooling tower which previ-
ously had dominated the site and made it just an unimpressive
piece of waste ground. Ken Naylor told me that planning the new
park was the responsibility of Ian Clair, of James Cunning, Cun-
ningham and Associates. When we met on June 2, he said that
the highest point on the hilltop was being reserved as a viewpoint
because of its dramatic view all over the city center; he was look-
ing for an original idea and warmed immediately to the megalith
proposal. For another propitious touch, he told me that to avoid
confusion with the Broomhill in the West End, the Park would
take its name from the ground to the north and the northwest, and
be known as “Sighthill.” Since megaliths, in turn, most often take
their name from the locations, it could hardly be better.
Ian also started me on the research into the history of the site,
giving me a photocopied map of the area “circa 1830” that eventu-
ally proved to be from the first edition of the 6-in. ordnance sur-