Archaeologists Are Digging Up Scotland’s Very First Outdoor Skatepark
Kelvin Wheelies skatepark, which hosted the country’s first national skateboarding competition, has been buried under rubble for decades
:focal(325x214:326x215)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/a5/be/a5be8545-2e61-43d3-90e8-a1c44ad747c5/media_1204410_smxx.jpg)
Scotland’s first outdoor skatepark is coming back to life.
Archaeologists are excavating the former Kelvin Wheelies skatepark in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park, which has been buried beneath rubble for decades, in an effort to honor the park’s legacy.
“Part of this is really about trying to bring this back to life, and to really bring back those memories for the skateboarders,” Kenny Brophy, an archaeologist at the University of Glasgow and the project’s leader, tells BBC News.
The team of archaeologists has invited community members, local volunteers and skateboarders who used to frequent Kelvin Wheelies as teenagers to help with the excavation. They’ve also asked people to share photos, videos and memories of the skatepark for an online archive.
Outfitted with a half-pipe, bowls and a slalom run, Kelvin Wheelies was considered a state-of-the-art park when it opened in May 1978.
“Glasgow City Council spent £100,000 building it, which was a large investment at the time,” Brophy tells the Guardian’s Libby Brooks. “It was designed with skaters in mind, and for teenagers who were involved in an activity that many people deemed to be antisocial and marginal.”
The park was an instant hit, attracting skaters from across the United Kingdom. It went on to host numerous competitions, including Scotland’s first national skateboarding championship.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/d9/c7/d9c70e85-3203-4d9e-a953-9607fbfcfd96/media_1204414_smxx.jpg)
“This place was rammed with skateboarders back in the day,” Jamie Blair, a former skateboard champion, tells BBC News.
But apprehensions about maintenance costs and safety—as well as a dip in skateboarding’s popularity and the construction of a rival skatepark—led to the park’s closure and burial just five years later, in 1983, according to a statement from the University of Glasgow.
Today, onlookers can see only a few sections of the skatepark’s concrete, which has been covered by trees and shrubs, per the Guardian. There is a modern skatepark at Kelvingrove Park adjacent to the original site, but there is no signage or interpretive information that details Kelvin Wheelies’ history.
The excavation of Kelvin Wheelies park, which starts this week, will “methodically empty out” the soil and rubble that was used to bury the park, Brophy tells BBC News. Then, archaeologists will assess the state of the concrete and keep an eye out for decades-old graffiti.
“Maybe we’ll be lucky and there might have been something exciting thrown in when they were backfilling,” he says.
Skateboarding got its start in 1950s California, where surfers who wanted a sport for when the waves were flat decided to attach wheels to wooden boards. They skated on urban and suburban architecture, including in empty pools during a major drought that hit Southern California in the mid-’70s.
Quick fact: The first mass produced skateboard
In 1959, the Roller Derby skateboard became one of the earliest skateboards to be sold throughout the United States.
The sport has been a global phenomenon for decades, but it hasn’t always been widely respected as such. Skateboarding made its Olympic debut just five years ago at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. In 2028, it will become a permanent fixture of the Games.
Archaeological excavations aren’t typically associated with such recent history, but sites like Kelvin Wheelies risk being forgotten if they are not preserved, Brophy says in the statement.
“There is a very real danger that this skatepark, a place that was so special for hundreds of young people just decades ago, will become forgotten and lost,” he says. “Contemporary archaeology allows us the opportunity to explore even fairly recent events and places to jog memories.”