Earthworks

Image above: Raider’s Road Labyrinth, Clatteringshaw, New Galloway, Scotland

Working with earth, means utilising a locations immediate ground. The topsoil is a living ecosystem and should be treated gently, the deeper one excavates, the older the strata encountered. All earthworks settle over time, and subtle changes brought on by weather and the seasons mellow their contours. There is obvious connection to our ancestors, for whom the earthwork is a softly spoken calling card from the past.

A thirty metre diameter raised labyrinthine walk, leading to a central stone cairn. Created as an enticement to stop passing traffic and encourage people to take a reflective walk in Nature, bathed in the sounds of the adjacent River Dee. All materials for the labyrinth were gathered locally within the forest, and with twenty years elapsing since construction, Nature is endeavouring to reclaim them.