This is so great we can’t express it in words. Watch it and weep! “What’s the deal with the Stonehenge?” Oh, almost forgot–not safe for kids.
Who cares if they got a detail or two wrong? They even include the snow globe. That’s class.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled lack of posting!
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged eternal questions, Stonehenge, Stonehenge mystery, Vegard Ylvisåker, video
photo by English Heritage, but found here
A brief much more sensible post. We know last week’s was less than optimal. We will try to be less silly today.
Won’t be too difficult because we have only a simple news item to report from the English Heritage website: “A detailed survey of every stone that makes up Stonehenge using the latest technology, including a new scanner on loan from Z+F UK that has never before been used on a heritage project in this country, has resulted in the most accurate digital model ever produced of the world famous monument.” There is also a video that we wanted to imbed here but couldn’t, a preview of the scan results.
The news item goes on: “With resolution level as high as 0.5mm in many areas, every nook and cranny of the stones’ surfaces is revealed with utmost clarity, including the lichens, Bronze Age carvings, erosion patterns and Victorian graffiti. ”
This project is significant for us, of course, because there is now a super-accurate model of Stonehenge for people to use when creating their own replicas and for us to use for comparison when judging replicas. Of course we wonder things, like–did they just scan the stones or did the scan the ground, too, so that everything is place in exactly the right place and at exactly the right angle? No mention of that here. Maybe later.
The last paragraph of the page at that link (which we are sure you clicked on!) implies that some of the information may be used to make a replica for the future visitor center. When that happens,we will be sending out a plea to our minions for pictures of that replica to post here.
But for now we just wanted to keep you informed of the latest news in Stonehenge models and replicas. Thank you for visiting.
To tell you the truth, we never suspected when at the age of 19 we hauled those stones out there and tipped them up under cover of night, how interested, even obsessed with them people would eventually become. We thought for a while we might one day come out and admit the hoax, but with the tourism and giving jobs to archaeologists, who, it must be admitted, need something to do, the whole idea of “ancient” Stonehenge has taken on a life of its own. We may never publicly admit that it was just a lark we pulled after a friend bragged of building Glastonbury Tor and placing that cheap folly on top.
Oops! Getting off on a tangent again. We don’t want to go blathering on about the past like an old person. Can’t imagine anyone being interested. Cheers, and, until next time, happy henging!
photos by Les Williams, used with permission
Way back in March we posted a wooden model of the long barrow at Wayland, often called Wayland or Wayland’s Smithy. The artist, Les Williams, told us he planned to do West Kennet [sometimes spelled Kennett] Long Barrow, a site we’ve mentioned here many times,which is located in Wiltshire very close to Silbury Hill, not far from Avebury, and not too terribly far from Stonehenge. [See comments below for the answer to the Kennett/Kennet confusion.]
Now he has finished carving it and we are honoured to receive first-posting rights for his admirable accomplishment! Mr. Williams’ opinion is that West Kennet Long Barrow (WKLB) is the most atmospheric of the ancient henges and barrows of southern Britain and Wales, and he seems to have captured some of that in this careful rendition.
Curiously he has not chosen to put a finish on this one as he did on the first, perhaps to retain more of the rough-hewn look of the giant stones at the barrow itself. Also, in order to make the stones large enough he has included only the front end of the long barrow, leaving the rest to the imagination.
But we don’t blame him. The choice he had to make was whether to A. make the stones tiny so he could include the whole barrow, B. use a huge piece of wood, most of which would be featureless barrow anyway, or C. what you see here. Good choice. We can tell you from personal experience that what is most riveting about WKLB is the row of megaliths at its entrance. Not that the interior isn’t awesome. Amazing place!
And Silbury Hill is visible from there. They and Avebury’s henge and stones, plus several lesser known sites are all part of a mysterious, ancient, and probably sacred landscape. Stonehenge has a unique standing in people’s minds–a curious must-see for tourists who look at it for a bit and then go off to see other English things–but the truly wonderful and remarkable thing in Wiltshire is not that grey linteled circle, or any one of the many remnants of what was done to the landscape all those millennia ago. No, it is the constellation of all of them, the magnificent puzzle they create and the questions they pose, laid out on the hills and down for all to see.
What is that you say? Oh, right–Les Williams and his carving. Heh, I’m afraid we get carried away. Well done–the stones are the right shapes and in the right order. Is anyone else doing anything like this? It is a unique and remarkable creation, somehow holding more mystique than a Stonehenge replica would.
No druids will be awarded, since it is not a Stonehenge replica, just the appreciation of the megarak* nation, and the breathtaking fame and riches that result from being featured on Clonehenge. Don’t let it turn your head, Les!
Did we somehow miss slipping the word eccentric in there? Well, anyway, for those to whom it currently applies, keep cool and to everyone–happy henging!
*A combination of the words megalith and anorak. One who is very interested in megaliths, standing stones, prehistoric stone circles, etc.
from video of Stonehenge Midsummer Sunrise Simulation
Well, it will be summer solstice on Monday and where do you plan to be to see it in? Oh, we know you would like to be at Stonehenge, just you and a few good friends, but what if you can’t get there or if you just don’t care to share it with the circus that takes place there every year? As with everything but dinner and the loo, the internet has the answer! Why not visit Stonehenge virtually or in a video?
Surprisingly, we haven’t been able to find a virtual Stonehenge with a real-time summer sunrise simulation. Neither have we found a video showing the midsummer sun rising at Stonehenge itself, but that is less surprising. If the experience of those gathering there over the years is a guide, then perhaps Stonehenge was built to observe rain and cloud cover rather than the sun at all!
It burns us a little to have to admit that the best-known virtual Stonehenge we’ve found is that on the Heritage Key site. Clonehenge had an unpleasant run-in with them a while back and it left a bitter taste. Still, credit where it is due! You can see a video of their virtual Stonehenge here. (Sorry about that fellow’s accent. There should be a computer application that replaces the voice of anyone talking about Stonehenge with that of David Tenant in best Doctor form!) To access the real virtual Heritage Key Stonehenge, though, you have to sign up at the Heritage Key website.
When you do, Prad Patel, a pleasant member of the staff there tells us: “Stonehenge Virtual always has a summer solstice going on. Unfortunately we can’t make a sunrise happen in real time (yet!) but we’re planning to have a party [for summer solstice] regardless! Have a happy Solstice!” We wish we’d dealt with him the first time!
There is a Stonehenge midsummer sunrise simulation by someone else here. And a brilliant flythrough of the Stonehenge landscape at this link. Still another video, here, takes us through the monument. There are any number of virtual Stonehenges, but no webcams, unless you count the notorious Dead Bunny Cam!
We hope that eventually virtual models will more faithfully reproduce the true shapes of the stones. Laser scans of some of the stones are already available. When completed they will allow virtual builders to get closer to simulating the true experience. Meanwhile, here’s a sample of what they have so far.
As long as we’re listing, here’s another view of Stonehenge from the inside, presented by BritishTours.com. You need to be running Quicktime, but we like being able to control it, moving up and down, fast and slow. Of course that one’s not virtual but camera-generated, but it’s still a good substitute for the arm chair, or more likely couch, solstice observer. Beat your drum or sacrifice your virgin in the privacy of your own home!
But wait, we hear you say, don’t end this post without showing us the worst Stonehenge video you found! It’s funny you should ask. We have just the thing! The title is Second Life–Spirit Stonehenge, and we can only guess that it is an amalgam of every even remotely Stonehenge-ish thing on SL. We won’t describe it in detail, just do try to hang in there to see Gollum and a dinosaur near the end. Wow!
There are more, plenty more, videos and simulations of Stonehenge out there. Stonehenge is the Lady Gaga, the Justin Bieber of megaliths. We’re almost certain that the famous Pete Glastonbury did a brilliant panorama from inside Stonehenge and we hope he will give us a link to it in the comments.*
But this post is way too long already and you have better things to do this midsummer than to sit here reading Clonehenge. So we part with a link to a lovely still of an anomalous midsummer sunrise, one in which the sun was visible from that old grey pile of rocks. Scroll down and there is a troupe of druids. They must have had some powerful bleach back there in prehistory!
We at Clonehenge wish you a wonderful solstice and a beautiful summer. Remember, if you want to be at Stonehenge, you can always make your own. Happy henging!
*Turns out that British Tours one is his.
photos are stills from this clip posted on TCM
We were going to do one post listing all the movies we know of so far that contain Stonehenge in some form. We’d already posted the movies This Is Spinal Tap and The Colour of Magic, and we thought we could round up the ones that were left in one quick post. Then we watched this video again. Lolz!!!1! It deserves a post of its own!
A synopsis of this section of the movie (from a full synopsis on this page) reads: “John, as the Black Knight, rides off to summon Arthur’s knights, as Linet, the abbot and the remaining monks are taken by the Vikings to the mysterious rocks of Stonehenge, where they are readied as sacrifice. Arthur, John and the knights arrive in time to rescue Linet and the clergymen and destroy Stonehenge.” But, trust us, this does not capture the madness of the wildly dancing girls, the heavily made-up so-called virgin about to be sacrificed, and the wild priests or druids presiding over it, let alone the dramatic rescue of said virgin and the about-to be roasted monks. Don’t you just hate those evil pagans?! 
Then, of course, there’s the pulling down of the stones at the end of the sequence. They come down quite easily, pulled by knights on horses. Think how that would have impacted on Britain’s tourist trade! Reminds us of National Lampoon’s European Vacation in which Chevy Chase backs into one trilithon and the whole thing goes down like dominoes. D***ed Americans!!
Score for this replica: 7½ druids. We think they did a fine job of mocking up what Stonehenge might have looked like long ago, considering it was 1954. As a matter of fact, we think they may have used the Maryhill replica (see here for our post on that one) for this aerial shot and just mocked up the parts they needed for the close-ups. Still, nicely done.
Our thanks to Bob Bradlee aka StonehengeGuy for steering us to this classic Stonehenge depiction. It is good to laugh!
from the movie Spinal Tap
When you say Stonehenge replica, people say Spinal Tap. And something about dwarfs. This rock spoof movie has etched the idea of Stonehenge replicas into the public consciousness, for better or worse. We run into it everywhere in our searches, often from folks who think they are brilliantly original to think of it. *wink*
At least one real band did use a Stonehenge replica as a set back in the heyday of boomer rock, one so large that it didn’t fit into some venues. Which band? We’ve seen two or three mentioned but we’re told it was really Black Sabbath and that Ozzy Osborne is still paying for its storage in a New York warehouse. If we could get a picture, it could be a post of its own! The story of the Spinal Tap replica is shown in the video below.
Many thanks to our readers and contributors for making our first 100 posts possible! Score for the Spinal Tap relica: 5 druids. It’s just a trilithon, after all!
[Note: after the next couple posts, we hope to slow down to just a few posts per week. Surely the number of replicas is not infinite! Right? Right!?]
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged dwarfs, dwarves, mini Stonehenge, Spinal Tap, Stonehenge, stonehenge replica, trilithon
From Bonehenge to phonehenge to Twinkie henge and many more, here’s a good way to begin this blog.
Think Geek, a sales site full of goodies that appeal to the computer (ahem) enthusiast, shall we say?, offers this Build Your Own Stonehenge Kit.
Love it!
Not a bad price, either.
Good-looking as it is, however, we can only score it seven druids out of ten, because, hey, it’s manufactured. Still, I simply must have one. Hear that, Santa?
[We did receive one as a belated Christmas gift. Thank you, Santa--you are listening after all!]
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