Archaeoastronomy from the Air - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 281

F IG . 9.24 The 'Three Sisters,' transit sighting pillars for the Brisbane Obser-
vatory, Largs, Ayrshire (Photo by Chris Stanley, 1982)
an excellent observatory site, screened from the lights of Largs by
the highest part of the wall. In the 1960s I was involved in an
observatory project, for a similar site in southern Ayrshire, which
didn't come off. However an approach to the owner of Brisbane
Mains Farm for permission to use the garden was kindly received,
and in August 1983 the ASTRA Ayrshire Branch's observations of
the Perseid meteors from the site were the most comprehensive
in Scotland.
Lecturing to ASTRA in January 1984, Roy integrated the aer-
ial photographs with his own shots of Tormore at ground level, to
good effect. John Bonsor gave an entire lecture using only Fig. 9.24 ,
projected on to a plan of the Brisbane Observatory and its tran-
sit sight-lines. The various researchers all requested copies of
the Tormore slides in addition to their own targets, and Ritchie
wanted copies of everything! Out of his 18 targets at 12 locations
we had visited 8, drawing a blank at four, been frustrated by the
light conditions at one, but obtained potentially useful photos at
four as well as 'targets of opportunity' such as Oronsay Priory. We
photographed Sighthill and three of my targets on Colonsay, met