Hutchinson, John Alexander (2020) The Rock and The Map: two tales of contemporary heritage landscaping in Scotland. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/79003/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Rock and The Map: two tales of contemporary heritage landscaping in Scotland John Alexander Hutchinson Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School of Geographical and Earth Sciences College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow Abstract As opposed to the ingrained and popularly rehearsed notion that Scotland’s quintessential landscapes are mountainous, remote, rugged and wild, this thesis considers the local landmarks of Dumbarton Rock and the Great Polish Map of Scotland as exemplary of a “New Scottish Landscape”. That is, a new aesthetic, or ‘way of seeing’ the Scottish landscape as one defined by ‘everyday’ local landscapes of affiliation, as much as the ‘special’ and spectacular. Such a belief is given added traction with the demographic fact that the majority of Scotland's population inhabits the densely urbanised Central Belt, in which landscape qualities of 'wildness' and 'remoteness' are generally lacking. Despite this ‘grandeur deficit’, there is increasing recognition that exurban, post-industrial, partially degraded or abandoned landscapes have the capacity to generate intensities of belonging and attachment, reflecting new, distinctive heritage values. Aligned with ‘processual’ conceptual understandings of landscape and heritage as situated, subjective phenomena, ‘the Rock’ and ‘the Map’ are approached in this thesis as instances of “heritage landscaping”, whereby landscape and heritage are figured as conjoined; emerging and unfolding together in practice and experience. Informing a phenomenological methodological design around fieldwork principles of observation, sensation, practice and performance, a range of research materials are gathered to tell the stories of the Rock and the Map. Recounted in two central empirical chapters, the Rock and the Map are explored respectively through the provision of a historical-cultural biography, lending context and time-depth to my own situated experiences through participative intervention. As contrasting but related instances of community-driven heritage landscaping, the Rock and the Map are then considered together to critically engage with recent conceptual developments in landscape and heritage practice towards ‘democratisation’. That is, a loosening of traditionally top-down professional landscape and heritage decision-making, to better account for the often intangible ‘social values’ held by ‘unofficial’ local communities of interest. Drawing upon my situated inquiries of the Rock and the Map, I contend that landscape phenomenology and a ‘performative ethos’ provide a creative and effective means of apprehending and accounting for these alternative narratives, allowing us to uncover and illuminate the latent potential and cultural value held within the New Scottish Landscape. Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. iii List of Figures ........................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. vii Author’s Declaration .......................................................................................................... viii 1. Introduction: Scottish Landscapes Old and New ...................................................... 9 2. Literature Review....................................................................................................... 21 The landscape of cultural geography ............................................................................... 23 Landscape and performance ............................................................................................. 26 Performing geographies ................................................................................................... 29 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 37 Landscape in policy and practice ..................................................................................... 38 Introducing heritage: a critical consideration ................................................................... 44 Heritage: from object to process ...................................................................................... 45 Community heritage ......................................................................................................... 51 Social value ...................................................................................................................... 53 Digital heritage ................................................................................................................. 56 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 57 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................... 59 4. Physical Graffiti: Heritage Landscaping at Dumbarton Rock .............................. 74 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 74 Part I: Rock of Ages ........................................................................................................... 79 A capsular history of Dumbarton Rock ........................................................................... 79 A social history of rock climbing at Dumbarton Rock .................................................... 90 Heritage landscaping at Dumbarton Rock ..................................................................... 108 The climbing landscape-as-text ................................................................................. 109 The ‘Winfield guide’ .................................................................................................. 114 Interlude: landscape-as-body ..................................................................................... 128 Part II: The Rock as a Landscape of Ritual and Performance ................................... 131 Edgeland escape ......................................................................................................... 132 Technology: the hybrid climbing assemblage............................................................ 139 Post-phenomenology .................................................................................................. 144 Graffiti and heritage ....................................................................................................... 146 The ACCORD project .................................................................................................... 154 Performative intervention: lighting lines at Dumbarton Rock ....................................... 159 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 173 5. Mapa Szkocji – The Great Polish Map of Scotland .............................................. 176 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 176 Part I: Origins .................................................................................................................. 180 Inception ......................................................................................................................... 180 Construction ................................................................................................................... 187 Ruination: the state of the nation ................................................................................... 196 Hiatus: hinterland ........................................................................................................... 203 Part II – Reclaiming the Future ...................................................................................... 210 Nation building: the restoration of the Great Polish Map of Scotland ........................... 210 Heritage landscaping: ‘the concrete garden’ .................................................................. 221 The Map as monument ................................................................................................... 232 Landscape and nation ..................................................................................................... 239