The De’il’s Plantin – reloaded

I spent a few hours this afternoon revisiting my Google Earth placemark of the Glasgow Network of Aligned Sites. When I originally started plotting Harry Bell’s sites I had a lot of difficulty due to the low resolution photo coverage in Google Earth at the time. This resulted in a degree of confusion, particularly in the Castlemilk and Carmunnock areas, where sites were misplaced and a couple of alignments omitted completely as I just couldn’t pin things down accurately enough. However, the photographic coverage has improved immensely in the last year or two, and so I managed to resolve my difficulties and have now finished mapping out the entire network:

UPDATE 2022: I have managed to obtain permission from Harry Bell’s family to reconstruct the old websites, updating and develop the material. Please direct your attention to the new  Glasgow’s Secret Geometry website.

Grahame Gardner
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7 thoughts on “The De’il’s Plantin – reloaded

  1. I’m so glad that someone else couldn’t figure it! I’m pretty good with maps, geometry and stuff and “The Secret” is shown at 7 o’clock (ish) and is as equidistant from Camphill as Tinto is at 4 o’clock (ish). The “Secret” at 7 o’clock (ish) would be some 29 miles SSW (approx) of Camphill. This leaves it lying wet somewhere off the shore near Prestwick and certainly not a “sight line” from Camphill….. If the distance was extended to 34.5 miles it could be the geographical feature of Heads of Ayr or the slightly nearer (33 miles) Greenan Castle (with its mooted “Arthurian Connection”)! A genteel request to May generated zilch.
    Methinks some liberties were taken with scale and directions for ease of display on May’s Devil’s Plantation! Who knows… mibee Feb 23rd will reveal all?

    1. Well, I did wonder if ‘the secret’ was Ailsa Craig, as this would fit with general ley theory (particularly David Cowan’s work). That might just fit with your calculations?
      There are a couple of things on May’s map that are not expounded in Harry’s original work, and this is one of them; I do wonder where they came from.
      Sadly, I can’t make the movie premiere, so keep us updated if there are any revelations!

  2. I greatly enjoyed The Devil’s Plantation… but despite much Google Map overlaying and triangulation I could never really suss out what the final “secret” was. At first I’d figured mibbe Loudoun Hill or somewhere. May’s geometry on the final “unwind” on the site 9which connected everything up) was captured on screenshots and painstakingly placed over extant maps. The geometry of the clockface didn’t really equate regarding the distance (Tinto at 4 and The Secret at 7). It put the secret in the sea (where no island was).

    Still great fun though. This map of yours is great. Cheers!

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