An Introduction to N4’s Impacts on Scheduled Ancient Monuments.
There are around 94 Scheduled Monuments in Lewis. Of those 26 are on the West Side and Ness and 29 in the Loch Roag area, including Carloway, Bernera and the Valtos Peninsula. What are the implications for these sites with the ambitions of Northland Power’s N4 industrial scale windfarm just 3.5 miles off our coast?
When it comes to determining the impacts of a major industrial development, there are a multitude of effects that need to be taken into consideration, with the impact on the setting of archaeological monuments often perceived as the least important to many. Nevertheless, it happens to be one which, in certain circumstances, is protected by legal statute.
The impact of a development upon the setting of monuments is calculated by taking into consideration two main things – firstly, the importance of the monument and secondly, the degree of impact to the setting by the development, taking into account various factors.
Numerous monuments will be affected in this way by the N4 windfarm proposal. Thus, it's crucial to understand the legal significance of these sites and evaluate the proposed industrial development's impact on each of these legally important sites.
How do we assess how legally important a monument is?
If we start with the highest, most important designations, we have “World Heritage Status”. This is a legal designation made by UNESCO for sites judged to have "cultural and natural heritage.. considered to be of outstanding value to humanity". These would include such sites as the Pyramids of Giza, the Taj Mahal, Angkor Watt and of course Hiort, St Kilda, which is in fact a dual world heritage site – once for the Natural Environment and once for the Cultural Heritage. There is no higher measure of importance in the world.
In a national context, the most important designation is a “Scheduled Ancient Monument”. This affords legal protection to the monument and its setting. There are a total of 94 Scheduled monuments in Lewis, with 55 of them in Ness, the West Side and around Loch Roag. Any impact assessment will have to include assessment of the visual impact from all potentially affected Scheduled Monuments. It is difficult (and time consuming) to research which are directly in line of site of the windfarm, although we can safely say that if the windfarm is not directly visible from each monument then it will be from very close by, and, importantly, the light pollution will be visible at night.
Additionally, sites of regional or local importance, while lacking the same legal protection, are significant in the planning process. Destruction of these sites by development often necessitates archaeological evaluations or excavations. Considering the concentration of such sites on the West Side, the entire area could be viewed as a cultural landscape of considerable age. For example, like a giant Russian Doll it contains multitudes of sites of very considerable age (from at least the Neolithic although there are probably undiscovered Mesolithic sites) - there are existing standing examples in the area from every era up to the present day. These sites can be visited and the surrounding area looks similar to how they did back then. This is a rare thing in today’s world, where increasingly every part of the world is built up and the past overwritten.
The monuments which the N4 windfarm will impact are important in universal, national and regional scales, and legally speaking, we have both internationally and nationally protected monuments in the area.
How do we assess the impact upon the setting of these sites?
UNESCO define the setting of a monument as:
Our own national agency for the protection of the historic environment, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) defines ‘Setting’ as:
“the way the surroundings of a historic asset or place contribute to how it is understood, appreciated and experienced.”
It would seem clear from these definitions that we can be certain that the setting of all of the sites so far discussed will be impacted to some degree.
So how do we assess the level of impact?
There are many different ways to do this. However, HES publish a list of factors to consider when trying to assess the impact of a development upon the setting of a historic asset or place. These are:
– whether key views to or from the historic asset or place are interrupted
– whether the proposed change would dominate or detract in a way that affects our ability to understand and appreciate the historic asset
– the visual impact of the proposed change relative to the scale of the historic asset or place and its setting
-the visual impact of the proposed change relative to the current place of the historic asset in the landscape
– the presence, extent, character and scale of the existing built environment within the surroundings of the historic asset or place and how the proposed development compares to this
– the magnitude of the proposed change relative to the sensitivity of the setting of an asset – sometimes relatively small changes, or a series of small changes, can have a major impact on our ability to appreciate and understand a historic asset or place. Points to consider include:
– the ability of the setting to absorb new development without eroding its key characteristics
– the effect of the proposed change on qualities of the existing setting such as sense of remoteness, current noise levels, evocation of the historical past, sense of place, cultural identity, associated spiritual responses
– cumulative impacts: individual developments may not cause significant impacts on their own, but may do so when they are combined
Given the scale and proximity of the N4 windfarm, every single one of these points would arguably be a cause for concern for every archaeological site from Uig to Ness (and not forgetting Hiort) with a line of site to the sea. The proposals will completely change the setting of the Westside of the island, and the seascape around Hiort, and therefore every site in these places will be significantly impacted.
National legislation such as Scheduled Ancient Monument status protects the settings of monuments, and should protect the settings of the 55 sites on the Westside, surrounding Loch Roag, and in Ness. Callanish is not within a direct line of site, but may still be significantly impacted by light pollution at night – affecting the view of the sky at night which is thought to have been of primary important to the builders, and is hence of primary importance to people who visit. However, the main cause for concern would surely be the setting of the double world heritage site, Hiort, which would be significantly impacted by such an enormous industrial windfarm on its doorstep. Consider HES’ 9th concern of assessing impact:
“the effect of the proposed change on qualities of the existing setting such as sense of remoteness, current noise levels, evocation of the historical past, sense of place, cultural identity, associated spiritual responses”.
If the N4 block goes ahead, all of these places will be changed indefinitely. Archaeological sites that have been there for thousands of years, will exist within an industrialised land and sea scape.
We must also consider the effect on the people who live on the surrounding land, who, if we are to use the UNESCO definition, are an important part of the setting:
“Beyond the physical and visual aspects, the setting includes interaction with the natural environment; past or present social or spiritual practices, customs, traditional knowledge, use or activities and other forms of intangible cultural heritage aspects that created and form the space as well as the current and dynamic cultural, social and economic context.”
The Westside villages of Lewis are the last majority Gaelic speaking places in the world. There is an unbroken lineage with these sites in Gaelic culture and knowledge, language and familial history.
Any corrosion of a culture that is already under pressure will leave behind a myriad of archaeological sites stripped of their human context. For an example of this we need look no further than the horizon, to Hiort, where archaeologists often struggle in vain to make sense of the various stone structures with no surviving member of the public to simply ask. The people matter.