The Cuningar Stones: The Coney Stone

Small rough-textured stone carved on one side with a rabbit motif surrounded by concentric lines. The rabbit symbol occurs on a number of stones throughout the park. When seen from above the Cuningar Loop appears as a rabbit in profile with the course of the river outlining the rabbit’s head and long ears. The name ‘Cuningar’ originates from an old Scots word for a rabbit warren or a place where rabbits were kept. Coney was the common name for a rabbit and was widely used until the 19th century. Local people used to hunt rabbits with ferrets on the Cuningar Loop as recently as the 1960s. The Cuningar Stones is a permanent public art project for the Cuningar Loop Woodland Park, a 15 hectare former landfill site in South Lanarkshire between Rutherglen and Dalmarnock. As part of the project 15 large carved sculptural works were produced drawing on an extensive programme of research and community engagement which examined the complex social, industrial and natural history of the site. Each stone was recovered from the ground after being dumped there during the demolition of the Gorbals in the 1960s. Developed to reference Scottish folk carving while retaining the aesthetic of an architectural ruin, the stones act as landmarks within the landscape encouraging exploration and generating interest in the identity of the park. Each stone retains the architectural details and other marks from its history with my own carvings intervening in these layers. Many of the carvings reference the rich flora and fauna of the park. The content of the carvings was developed through the supporting engagement programme involving adult and children's stone carving, mask-making and design workshops, audio history recordings, exhibitions, talks and events. This self-led project was supported by Creative Scotland with National Lottery Funding. For further information on the project see: www.cuningarloop.tumblr.com