Crawick Multiverse is the largest and the last completed land art project by the internationally renowned landscape designer and cultural theorist, Charles Jencks (1936-2019). The site is an important representation of his work, drawing on his earlier landscape art, and a lifetime of postmodern critical enquiry into the nature and meaning of art, architecture, and culture.

Laid out on a conceptually grand scale for artistic and contemplative effect, Crawick Multiverse is a fully realised example of early 21^st century land art in Scotland. It conveys cosmological themes, evokes prehistoric landscapes, references the earlier industrial history of the area, and plays a role in connecting people with the past.

Crawick Multiverse makes an outstanding scenic contribution to the area and has additional interest as an example of a major land restoration project intended for public access.

Type of Site

An early- 21^st century, land art regeneration project on a large-scale to designs by Charles Jencks, with landforms, water features and boulder and stone arrangements conveying cosmological themes.

Main Phases of Landscape Development

2011 – 2017

Artistic Interest

Level of interest

Outstanding

• Crawick Multiverse is an important representative work of the internationally renowned landscape designer and theorist of postmodernism, Charles Jencks. It carries forward key ideas and devices relating to multiplicity of meaning, as explored in his influential writings and site-specific land art installations.

• The layout of Crawick Multiverse closely reflects the designer's intentions (2023). It includes planned visual relationships between the various landforms and borrowed landscape features beyond the boundaries of the site such as the Crawick Viaduct (listed at category B, LB17254).

• Media reports and reviews demonstrate appreciation for the scale, ambition, and potential of the site, both within the context of Jencks' work and reputation, and as a public resource (Hawcock, 2015; Scottish Field, 2019).

Historical

Level of interest

Outstanding

• The planning and construction of Crawick Multiverse is well documented. Images of Jencks' original design paintings and drawings are published online. Print and digital media record his own explanations of Crawick's founding concepts. Further archival material is likely to be located in the archive being curated by The Jencks Foundation (www.jencksfoundation.co.uk).

• It has outstanding historic interest as a fully realised land-art project in Scotland. While it follows other late- 20^th century land art sites in Scotland (including Little Sparta, The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, and Jupiter Artland), it is set apart by its ambitious scale, conceptual integrity, and its additional interest as an example of a major land restoration project intended for public access.

• Crawick Multiverse contains site-specific examples of the signature, spiralling landforms pioneered by Jencks at other sites in Scotland. Compared with his other completed projects, it is probably the most directly evocative of British prehistoric landscapes.

• As a restoration project created for public access, events and performances, Crawick Multiverse is of ongoing benefit for local communities. In referencing the earlier industrial history of the area (and other connections with prehistory), the site plays a role in connecting people with the past.

Horticultural

Level of interest

Little

• The site is horticulturally sparse as a deliberate design choice. There are no scientific collections or rarities on site. Minor interest comes from the wildflower meadow and tree belts, which help define the landscape views and the four 'ecologies'.

Architectural

Level of interest

Little

• The interest of the landforms is described under 'Artistic' or 'Historical' Interest.

• The Coalface visitor centre and reception building is a sustainably sourced example of bespoke architecture designed specifically and contextually for its site. The building was a regional finalist in the 2022 Civic Trust Awards (civictrustawards.org.uk). 

Archaeological

Level of interest

None

• Extensive excavations and earthmoving on the site mean that there is limited potential for archaeological features to be present on the site. 

Scenic

Level of interest

Outstanding

• Crawick Multiverse makes an outstanding contribution to the scenic quality of the local area due to the physical extent of the site, the scale and character of the landforms and boulder arrangements, and their visibility from various vantage points around the valley.

• Within the context of the four contrasting 'ecologies' of mountain, gorge, meadow and desert, the Crawick Multiverse land art installations both echo and contrast with the wider surrounding landscape in a variety of ways that reflect the evolution of the landscape over time.

Nature Conservation

Level of interest

• Located within the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere (UNESCO gsabiosphere.org.uk), Crawick Multiverse is a post-industrial landscape restoration project that contains different habitats that are managed for sustainability and biodiversity. These habitats include ponds, wildflower meadow, and woodland. Part of the current management of the site is to maintain and improve the habitat for nature and biodiversity, while also providing opportunity for local employment (Sustainability – crawickmultiverse.co.uk).

Crawick Multiverse occupies the site of a former 20^th-century open-cast coal mine on the northern slopes of the upper River Nith valley, around 500 metres north of the village of Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire. The site covers an area of 22.5 hectares (55 acres) in a roughly diamond-shaped plan form with a strongly defined north-south central axis. The B740 roads runs along the perimeter to the south.

The lower slopes of the valley to the east and west of the Multiverse site are predominantly used for hill-farming, with evidence of various forms of industrial and agricultural activity. The higher ground to the north of the site is pastoral upland grazing interspersed with areas of forestry plantation.

There are views into the site from various vantage points around the valley, particularly from the single-track road running to the west of the site, with the massive scale of the design in evidence, stretching up the side of the valley.

From within Crawick Multiverse, there are wide-ranging views of the surrounding countryside in all directions. The key location for viewing the sequence of land art installations in the context of the wider countryside is southwards from the summit of the Belvedere (see under Landscape Components), looking towards the village of Sanquhar, the shallow bowl-like depression of the Nith valley and the distant hills beyond.

A tree-lined burn, recorded as 'Bridge End Cleuch' on 19^th century maps, flows through the site to the west. It enters Crawick Water a short distance to the south of the boundary of the Multiverse site.

A sandstone quarry is shown towards the north end of the site on the 1^st Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1856. During the 20^th century, the site became one of many open-cast coal mines in the area that were short-lived due to lack of workable coal seams.

The site was visited in 2005 by Charles Jencks at the request of his Dumfriesshire neighbour and owner of the site, Richard Scott, 10^th Duke of Buccleuch. They agreed a proposal to restore the site as a privately funded land art installation that would operate as a local amenity, events venue, and visitor attraction.

Crawick Multiverse was constructed largely between 2011 and 2015, with additional work by Jencks in 2016 and 2017. It was opened to the public in 2015 and is managed by the Crawick Multiverse Trust. Jencks' co-worker on the project was Alistair Clark, (Head Gardener at Portrack Estate, now retired). The site contractor was Campbell Duncan.

Charles Jencks and site design

Charles Jencks (1936–2019) was a prominent cultural theorist, landscape designer, architectural historian and the co-founder of the Maggie's Cancer Care Centres. Among the first to define Postmodernism as an overarching movement, his pluralistic view on architecture and culture can be charted through a run of more than 30 books, published and reprinted between 1972 and 2019. Born in America but resident in the UK for most of his adult life, Jencks began to focus on landscape art and garden design from the late 1980s onwards to further explore his ideas.

Rapid social and technological change and increasing ecological awareness during the twentieth century led many artists to look beyond the constraints of traditional artistic mediums. The emergence of the 'Environmental Art' and 'Land Art' movements during the 1960s and 1970s saw artists interacting more directly with their environments, with their ideas played out in nature using natural materials.

Charles Jencks developed his own distinctively sculptural approach to Land Art, with contemporary scientific theories about the nature of the universe informing and inspiring the work. His first land art project of scale was the Garden of Cosmic Speculation, begun in 1988 in collaboration with his wife Maggie Keswick Jencks at their family home of Portrack House in Dumfriesshire. Mixing architecture and landforming with sculpture, epigraphy and planting, Jencks has said they were trying to develop a new language of landscape together (Ward Thomson, 2007; Lily Jencks, 2023).

Many of Charles Jencks' other major works are also in Scotland. These include the Ueda Landform (2001) at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh; The Scottish World / Scotloch project at Kelty, Fife (from 2003, unfinished); Two Cells (2003–5) at the Inverness Maggie's Centre; the Cells of Life (2009) at Jupiter Artland, West Lothian; and Double Walk at Midpark Hospital, Dumfries (2011–12).

Outside of Scotland, his work includes the Black Hole Landscape, Pune, India, (2002); the Spirals of Time at Portello Park, Milan (1997-2003); and Northumberlandia near Cramlington, England (2004). Collaborative projects with daughter Lily Jencks include the Eco-Geo Park in Suncheon, South Korea (2011-2013) and design plans for Cosmic Rings of Cern in Geneva (unrealised).

Crawick Multiverse (2015) was Jencks' final land art project and his largest completed work in the UK. Construction involved major excavations, earth-moving and gathering natural materials to create a sequence of site-specific land art installations relating to "the universe and its rhythms" and the surrounding countryside (Jencks, 2015). The site has been designed to convey a range of explicit and implicitly coded ideas and scientific principles, centred around the over-arching philosophical/scientific concept of the 'multiverse' (that our universe is one of many). In 2015 Jencks noted that 'no one will know what the science is, but that doesn't matter. The important thing is for people to know it has meaning' (Scottish Field, 2019).

The work draws influence from many sources, from 'Arte Povera' (literally 'Poor Art' advocating the unconventional use of common and inexpensive materials), to the monumental landscapes of British prehistory (Hoffman, 2011). The design process involved creating models, paintings and drawings, and consulting physicists and astronomers (www.lilyjencks.com). Materials used include thousands of tons of earth, and around two thousand mudstone and sandstone boulders excavated from below the surface of the site, as well as many hundreds of unusually coloured and patterned river stones from the nearby River Nith. In 2015, Jencks described Crawick Multiverse as 'the greatest pleasure of my life' and suggested that 'of all my work, it shows that the primitive, the very basic, can be heroic if you work at it' (Scottish Field, 2019).

Another important motive was community benefit (www.charlesjencks.com). Local people had previously lobbied the landowner about the dereliction of the site and the works from 2011 onwards involved a process of decontamination to make it accessible to the public.  Events staged to mark the site's completion included public talks, exhibitions, recordings, and conversations with scientists, encouraging a variety of future public functions. Jencks remained involved with the site until his death in 2019. Current annual events include solstice celebrations and a two-day music and arts festival (www.crawickmultiverse.co.uk, 2023).

Paths & Walks

The principal walking routes up and down the site are known as the High Road and the Low Road. The pathways connect the site's four ecologies of grassland, mountain, gorge, and desert. Progression around the site is suggested rather than fixed, while maintaining a sense of movement towards the highest and narrowest point of the site to the north.

The High Road or 'Comet Walk' proceeds along the east perimeter of the site through a belt of birch trees, passing through four upright gateway stones representing a prehistoric monument type known as a 'four-poster'. These four stones were the largest found on the site during the excavation process. The path continues up along an exposed, scalloped ridge, past five groups of stones in a curving arrangement that function as seats while also representing the trajectory of comets in gravitational relation to the sun. The path terminates at the highest point (the Belvedere) with views over the entire Multiverse site and beyond.

The 'Low Road', starting from the car park, is more gradual and provides several choices along its route moving up through the sequence of landform elements in diminishing size, from the Sun Amphitheatre to the two galaxy landforms, to the Supercluster, and then the Multiverse landform.

Woodland

The site has belts of mainly birch and sycamore at its borders to the east and west of the site boundary. This is most pronounced along the course of a steep-sided burn running through the west side of the site. The trees provide colour, texture, background and scale to the landforms and other designed elements of the site. More trees are being planted (2023) to help increase the biodiversity of the site, while grass-cutting and controlled maintenance helps define the four separate 'ecologies' that were part of the initial design (www.charlesjencks.com).

The Gardens

The Multiverse site comprises earthwork landforms, water features, standing-stone alignments and boulder arrangements, laid out on a grand scale using robust natural materials.

The components (see below for details on each) refer simultaneously to more than one narrative, drawing on scientific and cosmological theories and events, mythical and metaphysical concepts, the megalithic monuments of British prehistory, and the past industrial use of the site. The relationships between these narratives tend to be inferred rather than stated, with the potential for 'greater meaning to emerge over time' (www.charlesjencks.com). Interpretative signage is present, but discreet.

In addition to these components, Jencks interprets the impact of the open-cast coal mining of the site as four contrasting landscape types or 'ecologies' (www.charlesjencks.com). These areas consist of a grassland meadow on the lower ground to the south, a secluded tree-lined gorge with a small burn or 'cleuch' running through it toward the southwest boundary of the site, a 'mountain' ridge to the north surmounted by the Belvedere (see below), and a 'desert' of compacted clay to the northwest where the large Andromeda and Milky Way galaxy landforms are sited.

North-South Path – A 400-metre-long processional avenue through the middle of the site on the north-south axis. The path is lined with 300 upright mudstone and sandstone boulders set at regular intervals, leading the eye to the site's northern lookout point, known as the Belvedere, at the summit of the escarpment. From the Belvedere looking south, the path aligns with the centre of the 19^th century Crawick Viaduct (LB17254) which is located outside of the Multiverse site boundary. The boulders along the southern section of the avenue dip in height gradually toward the centre, forming a shallow curve. Intersection boulders mark two additional pathways which run at right angles to the east and west of the North-South Path.

The standing stone avenue and alignments evoke monumental landscapes of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age such as the Calanais (or Callanish) Stones in the Western Isles (SM90054) and various monuments on Orkney. Among other things, they reflect Jencks' interest in the 'cultural continuity' of stone circles, henges and other monumental landforms constructed over a 3500-year period in the British Isles (The Universe in the Landscape, 2011).

Sun Amphitheatre – This is a circular henge-like landform 90 metres in diameter, located at the centre of the Multiverse site, and dissected by the North-South Path. Designed to host public events and performances, it has grassed, sloping embankments radiating outwards from a central gravelled area. Around the perimeter of the central area are three tiers of boulders arranged in a semi-circular seating formation. A mirrored pair of elliptical ponds or lagoons are located to the south.

Embedded at the centre of the amphitheatre is a stylised 'solar flare' motif in the form of a mosaic, using specially selected river stones from the nearby River Nith. The motif (designed by Jencks in 2016) depicts the magnetic shield that protects the earth from the sun's rays and solar winds, the effect of which can be seen in the night sky as the 'aurora borealis' or Northern Lights. The stones are arranged according to size, colour and type and are split to reveal and accentuate their unusual circular markings.

This installation reflects Jencks' interest in symbology and the sun's historical associations with regal or divine power. In his writing, he promotes the idea of a new sun symbology relating to a more contemporary understanding of science and culture (www.charlesjencks.com). Two panels inset into the lowest level of tiered boulder seating provide some information about the old and new symbology.

Comet Collisions – An arrangement of large mud-stone boulders to the south of the Sun Amphitheatre, located on a pathway branching from the main north-south path. The boulders are positioned in a splayed arrangement representing an impact or the collision of comets and asteroids (www.charlesjencks.com). The group also includes a dolmen-like arrangement of stone slabs that provide shelter.

Cosmic Collisions – A slightly later companion-piece to Comet Collisions, installed in 2017. This comprises a similarly splayed semi-circular arrangement of boulders, projecting at angles from the ground. At the centre of an arc of yew trees is a sculpture made of salvaged metal with two rusting sawblades representing the future collision of the Andromeda and the Milky Way galaxies, projected to occur in 4 billion years' time. Resin panel installations inset into some of the boulders depict the celestial collision of Cigar, Cartwheel, Antennae and Whirlpool-shaped galaxies, and the creation of a billion new stars. A discreet panel inset into one boulder uses words and images to convey a range of creative and destructive forces associated with the collision of objects and ideas, from the smallest to the largest scale.

Omphalos – This is a cave-like recess constructed of large boulders at the north end of the central North-South Path, at the base of the escarpment. The twin-gated entrance to the Omphalos is set within a wall of boulders and faces southeast. It is topped by two large boulders forming a V-shape, and a crown-like array of rusting metal struts. On the inside, the structure uses volcanic and other rock-types constructed around a conical-shaped central supporting stone.

Jencks notes that the Omphalos signifies both the geological and the mythical interior of the Earth. The locked gates of the Omphalos, which means 'navel' in Greek, represent the hidden or the unknown. The conically shaped stone at the centre of the interior of the Omphalos alludes to, among other things, the sacred stone within the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (www.charlesjencks.com).

Andromeda and The Milky Way Landforms – The spiral galaxies of Andromeda and The Milky Way are represented by two large mounds of earth at 25 and 15 metres high respectively. Both have spiral pathways leading to their summits, which feature spiralling arrangements of mudstone and red sandstone boulders and smaller stones representing the effect of black holes, space dust and other cosmological phenomena on the galaxies. The path of the smaller Milky Way mound is more tightly wound than that of the slower moving and older Andromeda galaxy. Long lines of sandstone boulders at the base of both structures represent gravity acting on Andromeda and the Milky Way as they begin to collide and to strip each other of matter (Jencks, 2015). Beside the compacted clay bases of the Andromeda and Milky Way mounds are crescent-like lagoons designed to fill with rainwater and naturalise over time.

Supercluster – This is a low-lying, broadly circular landform around 30 metres in diameter, located between the Milky Way and the Multiverse landforms. Its earth and rock shapes and pathways consist of a mixture of abstract triangular formations and 'just a few anthropomorphic shapes' (Jencks, 2017), creating shadow patterns that change relative to the position of the sun. The landform represents galaxy supercluster groups, which are the biggest structures in the known universe, and to which the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies belong.

Multiverse Landform – This is a spiralling landform, located on higher ground 20 metres to the north of the larger Supercluster in a relatively sheltered part of the landscape beside a belt of scrub birch and sycamore trees. At around 15 metres in diameter, it has a tightly winding spiral path densely lined with 100 irregularly shaped mudstone slabs.

The Multiverse landform represents the scientific theory that we inhabit an ensemble of universes. Most of the stones were chosen for their relatively average qualities, to represent the philosophical 'Principle of Mediocrity' which suggests that most events in the universe, such as the creation of a solar system, are not uncommon or exceptional (Jencks, 2017). Several stones have incised shapes and patterns representing six universes that have failed due to unbalanced kinetic or gravitational forces. A large megalithic-like standing stone with symbolic carving at the summit of the mound suggests a well-balanced universe such as our own that can support life. Beside the stone is an explanatory panel with a timeline of cosmological events ranging from less than a second to many billions of years. At its base the acronym 'PIC' refers to the scientific 'Principle of Increasing Complexity' (www.charlesjencks.com).

Belvedere and Void – The Belvedere is a smaller spiral mound landform located at the highest point of the site. A belvedere is an architectural term for a structure designed to take advantage of a fine view or panorama. Here, the Belvedere has been designed as the key location from which the entire Multiverse site, and the wider surrounding countryside, can be viewed and contemplated. To the immediate south of the Belvedere mound is a pair of large upright stones set in alignment with the North-South Path below.

At the summit of the Belvedere is a lectern-like structure in the form of an open book (metal panels on a stone base). The stylised panels name and depict the various land art installations and other land features, neighbouring settlements, the distant hills, and the passage of the Southern Upland Way. Also at the summit, a group of five stone boulders protrude from the ground at a 53-degree angle. These imply the fingers of a hand with the index finger pointing towards Polaris, the one star in the northern hemisphere which remains fixed in its location as the earth rotates.

To the north of the mound is the 'Void'. This is a mirror inversion of the Belvedere mound, with a descending spiral path, and a central pool of water with a mud-stone slab island. A 'void' is the name given to a cavity in the landscape caused by coal mining, with the word also referring to the vast expanses of cosmological space (Jencks, 2017). Beyond the Void towards the northernmost point of the Multiverse site is the North Shelter, constructed of boulders and set about with splayed arrangements of stone.

The view from the Belvedere draws in 'borrowed' landmarks beyond the Crawick Multiverse site including Crawick Viaduct (LB17254) to the south. Crawick Viaduct is an 1850 railway viaduct depicted in Jenck's original design painting for the site, and his Sun Halo painting. It acts as an 'eye-catcher' on the North-South Path alignment through the site. Its south-westerly orientation in the landscape mirrors that of the 'Omphalos' to the north end of the central Path. Other landmarks include large mounds of industrial spoil or 'bings' from mining activities at the Gateside and Tower Collieries 600 metres to the west. Depicted on the stylised panels at the summit of the Belvedere, the mounds of spoil broadly echo the shapes of the Andromeda and Milky Way landforms.

The Coalface - This is the visitors' centre and ticket kiosk near the south entrance of the site. It is a rectangular-plan, flat-roofed, metal frame building designed with sustainably sourced materials including three repurposed containers. It has a sliding frontage with short-length timber cladding that opens the west side of the building to the elements to support a variety of uses. The name recalls the former use of the site as well as the metaphorical meaning of 'working at the coalface' (Jencks, 2017).

To the west of the Coalface, on the brow of a shallow ridge, are two vertical panels, one set slightly behind the other, with a mosaic depiction of the Andromeda and Milky Way landforms and their surrounding landscape. This artwork marks the start of the 'High Road' or 'Comet Walk', with the path running east below a tree-covered embankment of earth and industrial spoil. This high embankment conceals the various land art components to the north from the B740 road and the visitors centre.

Historic Environment Scotland http://www.canmore.org.uk/345191

Maps

Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1856, published 1861) 1st Edition, 6-inches to one mile, Dumfriesshire, Sheet VI, Ordnance Survey: Southampton.

Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1938, published 1949) 4th Edition, 6-inches to one mile, Dumfriesshire, Sheet VI. SW, Ordnance Survey: Southampton.

Printed Sources

Jencks C (1977, revised 1978, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1991) The Language of Post-Modern Architecture. Rizzoli: New York

Jencks C (1973) Modern Movements in Architecture, Penguin Books: London.

Jencks C (2003) The Garden of Cosmic Speculation, Frances Lincoln Ltd, London.

Jencks C (2011) The Universe in the Landscape – Landforms by Charles Jencks, Frances Lincoln Ltd, London.

Wiley D (2011) The Story of Post-Modernism: Five Decades of Ironic, Iconic and Critical Architecture

Jencks C (2017) Crawick Multiverse (unpublished booklet, Crawick Multiverse Trust).

Hawcock N (2015) Sandpit Becomes Land Art, Financial Times 26/06/2015, p.12.

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