This page will deal with the 1970's factory pre-cast concrete structures and murals that decorate the grounds at Bannerman high school. Why every other school in the area is not accorded the same level of interest I don't know. Yet.
Before proceeding to deal with these most outlandish of claims we have to ask whether there is any justification at all in devoting time and space to the matters. Well the answer is probably a definite no, but a few short paragraphs will kill the theories so it won't take long. Bear with me.
1. Ground shadows and trees
Repeat above:
"Why every other school in the area is not accorded the same level of interest?"
Expand:
Why this particular plot of land? What is special about it?
The trees? The planned planting?
Nothing at all unusual and common practise in the mid 18th. to mid 19th. centuries on other merchant's properties and 'estates' all over the counties of Lanark and Renfrew.
A sketch of unknown origin portraying the northern boundary of the Baillieston estate as being the present Glasgow road - when in fact it was the present Maxwell Drive - a good couple of hundred yards north. Rather wastes the picture and a supposed resemblance with the Roman fort at Castlecary [the castle in Castlecary comes from a much later structure - about a thousand years later - and it was a castle not a fort]. It is also worth noting that the Castlecary fort would only have been a fraction of the claimed size of Mr.Hamilton's Bannerman/Ladyhill Drive mamooth.
After some rambling about landscaping we then come to the 1950 RAF aerial recon photo (© crown copyright) where coloured rings have been overlayed with the expert like claim that these represent footprints of a Roman fortlet (are we to quickly forget the super fort above?), a Roman villa or yet something else - a camp! Thirdly, a Romano-Briton quadrant which then becomes the makings of a Motte & Bailey fort of a thousand years later in real time! Normans and estates of a certain value etc. ...... this land wasn't an estate, it was a few empty parks owned by the church.
We then arrive cold to a claim about a man who must have planted trees in a certain fashion, a re-visit of paragrapgh 2 like. 'The tree planting method was unusual' - nothing at all unusual about mixing tree species in various fashion, a glance around surviving estates will confirm that (if anybody would be remotely interested in looking) and the statements aligning 'Rome' with Beech and Lime trees defies logic. It is indeed unfortunate for the writer that his statements cannot be verified, indeed they can't, they never will for there is absolutely nothing to verify, but that does not apply both ways - all is easily disproved as I'm sure readers of this article will agree. I promote that as a counter case if one were remotely needed.
2. Abstract art, landscape architecture and flower beds.
Before attempting to understand any of the claims made about structures and designs it is important to ask a few critical questions because this is where the theories go inter-planetary ......
We then arrive at pictures of 'sculpted' concrete blocks decorated by raised circles and lines which we are to believe were artisically conceived and sculpted in such a way to convey hints and clues about the history of the immediate area. We are to believe that the artist was an expert in the area's history and that his creations were statements of fact of the situation over one thousand eight hundred years ago. 'Three lane' Roman roads? must have been a very busy transport hub, an ancient M8 maybe. Aye right.
I'm no expert but all these blocks look a bit like 1970's abstract art to me - designed in a studio and manufactured in a factory. The lapse of time is no great obstacle in getting the facts about these and I'm sure Mr. Hamilton could get at the architect's archives on this if he he really had a mind to.
Lastly ......... the quadrangles within the school apparently resemble the shape of nearby Quinton Gardens [a definite undistutable Roman connection], this is correct, however the writer omits to mention they also resemble nearly every other cul-de-sac in Garrowhill.
Lets contact the architect ..................
Enough, enough, I'm sure the reader gets the picture.