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Lat/Long: 57.002169, -04.171493
OS
Grid ref: NN 68120 92190
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The forecast was for rain later so I didn’t wase time and set
off for the parking area to the west of Etteridge near the A9.
There were some interesting information boards which I read
before walking north along the cycle rail then crossing the busy
A9 to the entrance track to Etteridge. Walking by all the
buildings there was no sign of anyone. I continued along the
track towards Phoines for about 1km then turned right to head
directly up the mountainside. |
Interesting marker on the way. |
Wheatear. |
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It was a mix of heather and ferns on the climb but approaching
the summit ridge the groud cover was less and much easier going.
My objective was to investigate the column I’d seen on my last
visit to the area. As I continued NE I couldn’t any sign. I
noticed a rectangular pyramid at ground level which at first
appeared to be a rain gauge. closer inspection revealed nothing
underneath so I’m not sure what it was. A short way on, as I
started to descend there it was. |
First view of the monument. |
Internal inscription. |
Internal inscription. |
A hollow metal structure at the start of a steep descent looking
like an upturned hammer. It was about 4m high. Thankfully there
was an inscription plate on the east face quoting poetry by
Shelley. A hole through the middle revealed more inscriptions.
‘MMXIII Samuel Family at Phoines 100 years Diu Duret’. The roman
numerals are 2013
It seems to be connected with the Phoines
buildings below and the family connected with it. |
Phoines Monument Ozymandias. |
Ozymandias. |
Further notes on the Phoines Monument
- Ozymandias.
Ozymandias is a fifteen foot (4 metres) high
bronze sculpture that was installed in April 2016 in the
Cairngorm National Park, by Leonie Gibbs.
The sculpture
was commissioned by Michael Samuel in 2013 and it celebrates 100
years of his family living on that land.
Artist's Statement:
They took me to the top of the hill, the site for the sculpture,
a rocky outcrop reminiscent of a Pictish fort. I looked around
for inspiration and at my feet was a river of quartz trapped by
granite. As I looked closer I saw patches of moss and lichen on
the crystal form. The crystal was wider at the top and narrowed
at the bottom. The facets within the crystal made geometric
shapes and glinted in the light. I then realised I had found the
key to my idea for the sculpture.
I remembered the
incised image of the Rynie Man, a Pictish man holding a pick axe
which I had seen in the Inverness Museum and thought the shape
of the sculpture would be like an axe head. A simple standing
stone, wider at the top and tapering at the bottom. The river of
quartz would be enlarged to fit within this shape and be 15 foot
tall by one and a half feet wide, set upright on the top of this
ancient fort.
It took a year to gain planning permission,
before I could start sculpting. The sculpture was created and
cast at the Powderhall Bronze Foundry in Edinburgh.
About the inscription on the base:
Ozymandias, the poem by
Percy Bysshe Shelley about the Egyptian "king of kings" who said
that man's footprint on this earth was like a grain of sand in a
vast universe.
The following extract from Shelley's 1817 poem
is inscribed into the base of the sculpture:
"My name is
Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and
despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that
colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands
stretch far away.”
==
This film of the installation on
Creagan an Fhithich (Ravens Rock) was made in April 2016 by Eion
Gibbs.
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Phoines Monument Ozymandias.
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Phoines Monument.
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Phoines Lodge.
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Old A9 now cycle route 7.
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A faint path descended to the track below which I followed down
to the buildings. On the way a vehicle drove up with 2 men
inside. We exchanged waves as they passed. At the buildings
there was nobody around to ask about the structure. I followed
the tarmac track NW to regain the A9 where I crossed to follow
the cycle track which follows the line of the old A9. It was
just over 3km back to the car. |
Old A9 now cycle route 7. |
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