NS7711 : The North-South Line at Multiverse
taken 9 years ago, near to Knockenstob, Dumfries And Galloway, Scotland
A restoration of the remains of a 22 ha open-cast mining site just north of Sanquhar on the Queensberry Estate of the Duke of Buccleuch [who has privately funded the project], with land forms designed by Charles Jencks around the themes of space, astronomy and cosmology. The site was apparently left to go back to nature after the mines closed about 30 years ago, and used for motor cycle scrambling, probably unofficially. The new Multiverse opened in July 2015, but is still very much a work in progress and evolution. Eventually four ecosystems will be represented – grassland, mountains, gorge and desert. It is a modern day collection of henges, stone avenues and features, made from thousands of boulders found on the site, cast aside as mining removed the overburden to get at the coal. The coal measures are of Carboniferous age, but surrounded by much older Ordovician rocks – shale, mudstone and sandstones, so there is a variety of rocks in the features, many with carboniferous fossils and patterns of sedimentation. A pleasant day out, particularly if the sun shines as it did when I visited, although facing south from the high point not so good for photography. Link ,Link