Bonnington tours take place ahead of quarry decision

THOSE fighting to save the historic and scenic countryside between Lanark and New Lanark spent Easter showing the public what they might lose if quarrying plans for the area go ahead.
Final  tour...of the landscape around Bonngton befire it disappears under a major quarrying  operation sFinal  tour...of the landscape around Bonngton befire it disappears under a major quarrying  operation s
Final tour...of the landscape around Bonngton befire it disappears under a major quarrying operation s

The pressure group Save Our Landscapes (SOL) has been conducting a long campaign against Cemex, operator of the neighbouring Hyndford Quarry, and its plan to extend quarrying into the Bonnington area.

A decision whether or not to allow these excavations to take place is expected soon from the Scottish Government.

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The quarry opponents, along with allied groups and individuals, decided that Easter would be a good opportunity to make an eleventh hour case to the government that it was a landscape too precious to lose.

They ran a series of guided tours around a beautiful stretch of Bonnington countryside which might be just a memory by next Easter.

One tour was led by SOL’s chair, Mark Stephens, who said: “We were able to explain how the geological origins of the area and how the Carmichael and Ross families created the designed landscape that was instrumental in the development of picturesque tourism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

“For early visitors, the rolling pastoral landscape of Bonnington provided a stark contrast with the dramatic gorge with its huge waterfalls.”

For more on this story pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.

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