38 C O N T E X T 1 3 6 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 landmarks such as churches or schools. This is true of any context, from all periods, where common building types are found, such as tenemented areas in large cities or traditional terraced housing in smaller towns and settlements. Indeed the three existing listed buildings in Glenrothes are churches.3 Hundreds of public monuments of all periods are listed across Scotland, including two post-war sculptures that are not war memorials (in Glasgow and in theWestern Isles).Although the sculptures in Glenrothes are not old or rare in themselves, it is rare to find such a concentrated collection of artwork. The concerted integrated programme made this association with the work special in Scottish and UK context. It was established that they were of a sufficient interest for the contribution to a post-war urban settlement, and that a number of works were representative of a significant shift in public sculptural practice characteristic of the late 1960s and 70s conceptual art movement. Most of the sculpture was conceived to be integrated with the architecture and the spatial planning of the town, not set apart as self-referential works of art on plinths. After setting the work into temporal and spatial contexts, the assessment considered the individual works of art within their type and how the approximately 140 works of public art could be compared within the entire body of work. For example, it was important to consider if the artwork conceived in the earliest phase of the arts Industry Past and Present, orWestern Avenue Underpass (1970), conceived by David Harding, is a significant feature in the landscape and is designed on a large scale. Intricately detailed, it is representative of how artwork was developed as part of the town’s infrastructure.The work draws heavily on the Glenrothes mining, paper and electronics industries, and used modern concrete casting techniques in its execution. Henge (1970), by David Harding, exemplifies the type of personal and distinctive narrative that epitomises the ethos of the public art in Glenrothes. The work, a homage to a local neolithic stone circle, encourages the viewer to move into the sculpture, where there are symbols and quotations from contemporary popular culture on the inward face of the cement monoliths. References 3 St Paul’s Glenrothes Roman Catholic Church (HB10012); St Columba’s Parish Church (HB49999); and St Margaret’s Parish Church (HB42983). For their listed building records see http://data. historic-scotland.gov.uk. One in five post-war listed buildings in Scotland are places of worship. programme could be more closely aligned with the early town plan and therefore possibly be of considerably more interest in listing terms. Generally this was found to be the case. Individually the works had to be considered for their architectural or historic interest, which was also critical in selecting specific works for possible listing.Therefore, sculptures were also considered for the design quality and artistic value. They were considered within the period they were created and whether they were stylistically important or representative of a period style.They were also assessed for the artist’s contribution to the development of the architecture or artwork, and whether it was significant within that artist’s own output. The work’s setting was considered extremely significant, so it was consistent to question the special interest of the artwork if it was no longer in its original location. Close historical association becomes more relevant when there is less intrinsic architectural or artistic and design value associated with the building or structure, and where a close association to a nationally significant event or person is known. Following the assessment, it was not surprising that only four sculptures were put forward for statutory listing. But the survey brought the art into recognition, with the statutory listing acting as a signpost to the wider historic interest of the area, in the same way that the three listed churches had pointed to this interest
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