Good Heavens … astronomer bids to rejuvenate stone circle

Good Heavens … astronomer bids to rejuvenate stone circle – Herald Scotland | News | Home News.

2 Jun 2010

It was created in the late 1970s to mirror the rise and fall of the moon and sun across Glasgow on a site of ancient astronomical interest.

Now efforts are being made to rejuvenate the Sighthill Stone Circle, created by amateur astronomer and science writer Duncan Lunan, who brought Britain’s first authentically alligned stone circle in more than 3000 years to Glasgow’s inner city.

More than 30 years later, Lunan hopes to revive interest in the stone circle, which was built by the Glasgow Parks Astronomy Department using funds from the former Jobs Creation Scheme.

When money for the project was abruptly scrapped by the then prime minister Margaret Thatcher, four pieces of stone never made it to the circle and are now stashed under a nearby bush in Sighthill Park. It is hoped the circle can now be completed as Lunan intended.

At the stones yesterday, Lunan said: “There is still nothing up here to say who built the circle, who it was built for or how it works. I have been told that nowadays children are afraid of it, that they think it is linked to black magic, that sort of thing. That is something I want to change.”

(Full post here)

I was pleased to see this article in the Herald as I know Duncan well and am very fond of his stone circle, although it is of little interest from an earth energies point of view as Duncan’s focus was purely on the astronomical alignments. In fact it is sited partially over the old Buchanan Street station tunnel. But it’s a lovely little circle despite the graffiti on the stones and the perpetual litter, and on my last visit there a month or so ago I found some floral offerings and a memorial wreath, sure signs that some local pagans have adopted it as their local sacred spot.
The circle has alignments to the solsticial sunrises and sets, the major and minor lunar standstills, and the rising of the star Rigel both for 1979 AD and 1800BC. The four stones that remain half-buried in the nearby bushes would be used to mark the cardinal points.

The Stellarium landscape for Sighthill stones

Last year I created a landscape using the Sighthill stones for the open-source astronomy program Stellarium. You can find it, and some other stone circle landscapes,  on The Geomancy Group, or together with a global selection on the Stellarium landscapes page.
Geoff Holder also talks about the circle in the second half of my Adventures in Dowsing podcast no. 11 and mentions it in his book The Guide to Mysterious Glasgow.

Grahame Gardner
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