photo from TowersTimes.co.uk, with permission

Lest we think Stonehenge replicas that barely resemble Stonehenge at all are  a phenomenon limited to clueless Statesiders, today let’s look at one of the older so-called Stonehenge replicas in the U.K., the one in the gardens at Alton Towers in Staffordshire (shown here in the English Heritage National Monuments Record). These days Alton Towers is best known as an amusement park and resort, and a pretty rockin’ one at that, but at one time the estate was best known for its gardens and conservatories.

In the early 1800’s one of the eclectic fancies added to those gardens was this odd construction which is still characterised,  when it’s mentioned at all, as a Stonehenge replica. Hmmm . . . We would guess that they built the smaller faux trilithons, connected them with the higher lintel, stood back, decided it just wasn’t grand enough for those gardens, and went on to add the un-Stonehenge-like fancy at the top just for style.

We weren’t sure whether this belonged on our list of the large permanent replicas, it is so odd. But if the Guidestones are on there, then this should be, too, right? Score: 5 druids. Don’t grumble and say that’s too high. It was built by Brits–maybe they knew something we don’t!