Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 158

inside out, à la Carnac [ 31 ].” As that was just what I had done, the
support was extremely welcome and undoubtedly helped to con-
vince the Parks Department that I was on the right track.
Once I had convinced the Parks Department and the Man-
power Services Commission that we had to find a suitable site,
then design a twentieth-century structure according to the ancient
principles, I had turned my attack on the suggestion that mod-
ern materials such as steel tubing should be used. In fact Glasgow
already had one such structure, the Steelhenge on the Strathclyde
University campus. I had looked at it, and at photographs of struc-
tures in modern materials built by Chris Jennings, who had made
extensive studies of standing stones (illustrating MacKie's topics
among others), but in both cases I felt the dominant allusions were
to modern sculpture rather than ancient astronomy. To capture
the spirit of the ancient sites, and produce a monument that would
last for thousands of years, I felt that only stone would suffice.
I turned for support to Prof. Thom, whom I had never met. Ian
Downie, who later joined the project, gave me his contact details,
and I made an appointment to see him on April 13, at the house
in Dunlop which he had built for his wife and himself during the
Depression. I was warned that he didn't suffer fools gladly, so I
knocked at his door with some diffidence.
“Good morning,” he said as he opened the door. “Have you
seen the latest criticism of my work in Antiquity ?”
Not wishing to admit that I wasn't a regular reader of Antiq-
uity , I said, “No, Professor, I haven't seen it yet.”
“Well, don't bother,” he said, “the man's totally innumerate.
Come in!”
Having heard what the project was, Thom was opposed to
it. He had no wish for any kind of a tribute, and in his view the
money would be far better spent on preserving ancient sites. While
I fully saw his point, I had to point out that the money was allo-
cated to build something of an archeaoastronomical nature, and it
had to be within the Glasgow city boundary - and all the ancient
sites in that area had been destroyed. I did however get his grudg-
ing agreement that if we were going to do it, stone would be far
better for the purpose.