Latest news with #CrawickMultiverse
Yahoo
22-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The former coal mine which became a work of art
As relics of our industrial past go, the Crawick Multiverse is a pretty unusual one. Once an opencast coalmine in Upper Nithsdale in southern Scotland, it is now a landscape artwork created by the late Charles Jencks. It was officially opened 10 years ago on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice of 21 June 2015. The hope was that it could attract international visitors and help boost businesses in nearby Sanquhar, Kelloholm and Kirkconnel. Materials found on the site - including 2,000 large boulders - were used to create the work. The £1m project - funded by the Duke of Buccleuch on his own land - followed in the footsteps of other works by Mr Jencks including the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, also in Dumfries and Galloway. The artist - who died in 2019 - said at the time of the opening: "This former opencast coal site, nestled in a bowl of large rolling hills, never did produce enough black gold to keep digging. "But it did, accidentally, create the bones of a marvellous ecology. "This work of land art, created primarily from earth and boulders on the site, celebrates the surrounding Scottish countryside and its landmarks, looking outwards and back in time." The Duke of Buccleuch was delighted with the outcome. Speaking in 2015, he said the site had become a "brutal eyesore" and an "embarrassment". So when his "neighbour from down the road" - Mr Jencks - had offered to transform the area, they were "just over the moon". Reflecting on it today, he said he was still impressed with the final outcome. "The vision of Charles Jencks, which I supported, extended far beyond its original purpose of removing a derelict opencast mine eyesore to the creation of an internationally-recognised work of land art," he said. "Charles's ambition to represent in artistic form elements of the vast cosmos in which our planet is but a minute speck, included galaxies, superclusters and the multiverse itself. "He sought the input of the leading international scientists in the field including Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and won their admiration." He praised the work of the trust which now runs it and wished them all the best for their second decade. Ten years on, though, what has the impact been? Ronnie Bradford, community development officer at the nearby Sanquhar Enterprise Company, said it had brought "several benefits" to the area. "The unique and inspired transformation of the former opencast coal mine has attracted visitors, supporting local businesses, increasing tourism in the area and raising the profile of Upper Nithsdale," he said. "Local residents have been hired for roles at the site with local trades being engaged in developing the site, ensuring good community involvement in its operations." He said it also hosted school visits, community group trips and promoted affordable access for nearby residents. "The open-air venue hosts festivals, performance art and music events, bringing large-scale entertainment and social opportunities to the region often at 'off season' times of the year." The site now attracts about 10,000 visitors a year and has seen improvements carried out over the past decade to upgrade visitor facilities. A 55-acre site requires plenty of maintenance with a team of four local young people in "front of house" roles, managed by operations manager Brian Johnson and supported by volunteer trustees. It was also recently designated as a significantly important designed landscape by Historic Environment Scotland. A special celebration took place on Saturday to mark the solstice and also reflect on its first 10 years. Gillian Khosla, who chairs The Crawick Multiverse Trust, is proud of what has been achieved but also has an eye on the future. "We stand on the shoulders of the artist and skilled workers who created and now develop this unique site, which has repurposed a derelict and depleted coal mine into an important asset for Upper Nithsdale," she said. "A decade on from opening, now is the time to plan for the next decades to further develop our audiences and increase biodiversity. "Our aim is to be sustainable, both environmentally and financially." She said that future could be shaped by others and they were open to ideas of how to develop the site. In the meantime, they hope visitors will flock to their solstice celebrations and other summer events. "Please continue to visit and share the magnificence of the Multiverse with your friends," she added. It certainly appears to have left its past as an industrial eyesore a long way behind. Charles Jencks - Desert Island Discs The architect who made cancer care a work of art
BBC News
22-06-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Crawick Multiverse: The coal mine which became a work of art
As relics of our industrial past go, the Crawick Multiverse is a pretty unusual an opencast coalmine in Upper Nithsdale in southern Scotland, it is now a landscape artwork created by the late Charles was officially opened 10 years ago on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice of 21 June hope was that it could attract international visitors and help boost businesses in nearby Sanquhar, Kelloholm and Kirkconnel. Materials found on the site - including 2,000 large boulders - were used to create the £1m project - funded by the Duke of Buccleuch on his own land - followed in the footsteps of other works by Mr Jencks including the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, also in Dumfries and artist - who died in 2019 - said at the time of the opening: "This former opencast coal site, nestled in a bowl of large rolling hills, never did produce enough black gold to keep digging."But it did, accidentally, create the bones of a marvellous ecology."This work of land art, created primarily from earth and boulders on the site, celebrates the surrounding Scottish countryside and its landmarks, looking outwards and back in time." The Duke of Buccleuch was delighted with the in 2015, he said the site had become a "brutal eyesore" and an "embarrassment".So when his "neighbour from down the road" - Mr Jencks - had offered to transform the area, they were "just over the moon".Reflecting on it today, he said he was still impressed with the final outcome. "The vision of Charles Jencks, which I supported, extended far beyond its original purpose of removing a derelict opencast mine eyesore to the creation of an internationally-recognised work of land art," he said."Charles's ambition to represent in artistic form elements of the vast cosmos in which our planet is but a minute speck, included galaxies, superclusters and the multiverse itself."He sought the input of the leading international scientists in the field including Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and won their admiration."He praised the work of the trust which now runs it and wished them all the best for their second decade. Ten years on, though, what has the impact been?Ronnie Bradford, community development officer at the nearby Sanquhar Enterprise Company, said it had brought "several benefits" to the area."The unique and inspired transformation of the former opencast coal mine has attracted visitors, supporting local businesses, increasing tourism in the area and raising the profile of Upper Nithsdale," he said."Local residents have been hired for roles at the site with local trades being engaged in developing the site, ensuring good community involvement in its operations."He said it also hosted school visits, community group trips and promoted affordable access for nearby residents."The open-air venue hosts festivals, performance art and music events, bringing large-scale entertainment and social opportunities to the region often at 'off season' times of the year." The site now attracts about 10,000 visitors a year and has seen improvements carried out over the past decade to upgrade visitor facilities.A 55-acre site requires plenty of maintenance with a team of four local young people in "front of house" roles, managed by operations manager Brian Johnson and supported by volunteer was also recently designated as a significantly important designed landscape by Historic Environment Scotland.A special celebration took place on Saturday to mark the solstice and also reflect on its first 10 Khosla, who chairs The Crawick Multiverse Trust, is proud of what has been achieved but also has an eye on the future."We stand on the shoulders of the artist and skilled workers who created and now develop this unique site, which has repurposed a derelict and depleted coal mine into an important asset for Upper Nithsdale," she said."A decade on from opening, now is the time to plan for the next decades to further develop our audiences and increase biodiversity."Our aim is to be sustainable, both environmentally and financially." She said that future could be shaped by others and they were open to ideas of how to develop the the meantime, they hope visitors will flock to their solstice celebrations and other summer events."Please continue to visit and share the magnificence of the Multiverse with your friends," she certainly appears to have left its past as an industrial eyesore a long way behind.
The Guardian
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Beam me up, Scotland: a journey into outer space in Dumfries and Galloway
The sun warms my face as I pause between the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies to gaze at the rolling hills of Dumfries and Galloway beyond. I am not, surprisingly enough, in outer space. I'm at the Crawick Multiverse, a cosmos-themed land art installation in the south of Scotland that was built on the site of an old open-cast coal mine and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The galaxies here are huge, spiralling mounds of earth, their perimeters reaching out towards one another but never quite touching. 'These galaxies are slowly moving towards each other, and eventually they'll collide,' says Gillian Khosla, chair of the Crawick Multiverse Trust. 'When that happens, it will be the end of our universe.' Thankfully, we've got a few billion years until then. We stroll around the grounds and watch as visitors climb the mounds, looping around the spirals to reach the sandstone boulders on top. Parents are chased by kids, who are less interested in the cosmological ideas of the art than the fact it happens to double up rather well as an obstacle course. 'We're open to everybody's way of looking at it,' laughs Caroline McMillan, a local farmer and Crawick Multiverse trustee, who joins us for the walk. 'It can be an artsy thing, or it can be a nice place to come for a coffee – or to roll down some hills with your kids.' The coal mine that once operated here was shut and abandoned in the 1980s, when the 'black gold' ran out. The land is owned by the Duke of Buccleuch – one of Scotland's largest landowners. In 2005, he invited the late land artist Charles Jencks to transform it. 'It was a depleted site,' says Khosla. 'Everything was removed that was worth money and nothing was left. What open-cast coal mining tended to do was take, take, take; and what we're trying to do here is add – add interest, diversity, nature and add value to the community.' McMillan lived in a house overlooking the site for much of the development. 'It was grey and uninteresting,' she says. 'Now it's green and there's a lot more biodiversity – ponds and dragonflies. It's created jobs and it's somewhere people bring people now; family and friends.' The installation was built with existing materials – sandstone boulders were transformed into planets and black holes. At the centre is a 400-metre avenue lined with hundreds of stones on a north to south bearing, leading to a central amphitheatre that hosts concerts in summer. Above it all, the Belvedere viewpoint offers sweeping 360-degree vistas of this eclectic 22-hectare (55-acre) site, where megaliths pose cosmological conundrums amid the farmland and hills of the Nith valley. 'Charles wanted to make this a place people would come to from all over the world, and we're starting to go down that track now,' says McMillan. It's a Saturday morning, and families run among superclusters and climb on rocky comets. This remains a little-visited part of Scotland, despite its beauty, which is particularly apparent in early spring, with the sun shining and daffodils disrupting the greenery. Some old coal bings (piles of waste rocks) are still visible beyond the boundary walls, though digging ended decades ago. I continue my artistic voyage at A' the Airts, a community art centre and cafe in the historic town of Sanquhar, just minutes from the Crawick Multiverse. Andy Williamson, chair of the centre, is originally from the neighbouring parish of Kirkconnel. Decades ago, like many in the local area, he worked at the Fauldhead colliery in Kirkconnel, which at the time was the largest pit in Dumfriesshire. In Sanquhar and Kirkconnel, thousands once relied on the pits to earn their living. The closure of the mines had a profound impact here, still felt today. Sign up to The Traveller Get travel inspiration, featured trips and local tips for your next break, as well as the latest deals from Guardian Holidays after newsletter promotion 'It was devastating,' says Williamson. 'In its heyday, Kirkconnel had a population of about 5,000 or 6,000. It's down to maybe 2,000 now. The village never recovered.' A' the Airts has a busy programme of music, film and poetry – some of it inspired by that mining legacy – as well as workshops on quilting, pottery and the distinctive Sanquhar knitting pattern. 'I think one of the redeeming features of a mining village anywhere is the community spirit,' Williamson says. 'That's still relevant here. Everybody pulls together.' Green shoots sprout from mined land. Sanquhar is a picturesque town with a long history. On the edge is the ruin of a 13th-century castle where Scotland's national hero William Wallace is said to have battled the English and Robert the Bruce is also believed to have visited. The poet Rabbie Burns frequented the town in the 1780s, often staying the night. Sanquhar is also home to the oldest working post office in the world, established in 1712. The story of such Scottish legends is told at the Sanquhar Tolbooth Museum, which is to be found in an 18th-century baroque building on the high street that also houses old Davy lamps and mining pickaxes. Today, there are new paths leading to Sanquhar Castle, new play parks and increasing tourism. 'It's all about making the place a bit better for the next generation,' says Lisa Black of the Sanquhar Enterprise. 'That means something.' I spend a comfy night at the Nithsdale hotel before continuing my journey on the Southern Upland Way – a hiking route running 214 miles, coast-to-coast across the south of Scotland. The trail turned 40 last year and marked that anniversary with sculpted way markers, which were installed at the start and end of the three sections (western, middle and eastern) that make up the trail. Sanquhar marks the end of the western Spirit of Galloway segment and the beginning of The Big Hills section through the centre of Scotland. I'm walking the eight miles to Wanlockhead, the highest village in Scotland and home to the Museum of Lead Mining, which offers the only underground mine tour in Scotland. It is early, and I follow a farm road steeply out of Sanquhar as a dawn chorus of song thrushes, blackbirds, robins and wrens sing to welcome in the day. A pair of curlews pass overhead as I cross rough, scenic moorland, and the sun slowly rises over the Nith valley behind me. Crawick Multiverse costs £8.50 for an adult day pass, £5 for five to 16-year-olds, free for under-fives, and £25 for families, Single rooms at Nithsdale Hotel from £69, doubles and family room from £72, Support was provided by South of Scotland Destination Alliance. More details from Scotland Starts Here
