I first visited the place back in the late 80's and spent a wonderful sunny Spring day there again in 1994. Not prehistoric but a very early christian site in The West Of Scotland. Back in the early 90's it had most of its rubble walls standing (to 12 feet high or so) and was home to many beautifully carved stones at the building's corners and windows, celtic knotwork grave slabs, a cross base and intricate detailing and carvings, a trefoil arch and font. There was a possible Neolithic hand carving built into one of the walls. It sat in a forest clearing in short, deer and sheep-cropped grass close to the road.
I returned last year after a gap of about twenty years. The site looked like a demolition crew had went to work on it about a decade ago and left without carting everything away. Walls lay as piles of rubble. I couldn't find the hand carving in the area where it should have been. A much smaller church out-building still stood but Nature had been allowed to invade its stonework and had commenced seriously prising the remaining walls apart with tree-growth.
I don't know if it was Time and Gravity which caused the immense damage to the main church walls. Or a stone quarrier with a sledgehammer looking to collect themself an ornate historical rockery for their garden. The Royal Commission visited in 1970 according to Canmore. Maybe it is "managed decline" (like what Thatcher had decided for Liverpool). I haven't named the site here for fear of the bleeding obvious.
|
