Monthly Archives for April 2009

Personal Stonehenge: Mushroom variety

mushroom-stonehenge

photo from VivaTerra promotional website

“Calling all druids”, the advertisement says. But we’re thinking this Stonehenge replica is actually aimed at the garden gnome demographic. And what is the little one standing on? A tarot deck? The ad copy continues: “Arranged on desktop or shelf, they conjure up ancient rites while gently reminding us to trust in our own inner power as we explore the mysteries that lie ahead.” If they truly conjure up ancient rites, then they are a bargain at the sale price of $49, but please excuse us if we have our doubts . . .

But whatever. Far be it from us to belittle anything that helps someone get through the day feeling good about life. Anyway, we have heard from certain sources that the connection between Stonehenge and mushrooms is a longstanding one. For some people having this on their desk in the office might help them recall rites of their own!

Score: 5 druids. And that’s a stretch, to be honest. But it is made of stone, unlike many, and their calling it Personal Stonehenge tickles our funny bone (as does the price!). And it’s a great concept. Shouldn’t everyone have their own personal Stonehenge? No? Admit it–you know you want one!

Springhill Gardens, Replica in California

springhill-3photos by Dan Koellen, with permission

At Springhill Gardens near Lincoln, California, somewhere amid the 400-foot-long statuary garden, the Tequila Hill garden, full of agaves, the shade garden, a knot garden, a rose garden, a palm garden and–most intriguing to us–the pink-flamingo-and-gnome garden (!!), there stands a Stonehenge replica of sorts (the photographer says it is not made of stone but of something resembling stucco). It isn’t small but might be almost lost in this huge  garden of many parts. The garden is owned by John Poswall, a Brit (mystery solved!) and his wife Peg.

springhill-2It’s an odd-looking one, we have to say, reminding us a bit of the post-henge at Rainwater Observatory in French Camp, Mississippi (seen with hemispherical addition in photo).  We don’t know if this replica is of stone. It must have taken some doing to vary the lengths of the uprights in order to keep the lintels level! To be honest, the resemblance to Stonehenge itself is a but tenuous, but the owners call it a Stonehenge replica and we’ve been in this business long enough to know that people always have their reasons. It certainly has a lovely setting!

Score: 6 druids. It’s trilithon-free, but we like the outlying stones  and we’re sentimental about beautiful landscape settings. Landscape seems to have been important to the builders of the original.

If we owned it, we might look into training some ducks to walk in a circle, just to stun visitors approaching on a tour!

Deutsches Museum, Stonehenge Model

german-museumphoto from the Deutsches Museum website

Not much info on this one. Like many or most astronomical museums, planetaria and observatories, the astronomical section of the Deutsches Museum in Munich includes a Stonehenge model. It appears to include at least some of the sarsens with lintels in the circle, the horseshoe of trilithons, and bluestones, plus a rather nice lighting effect simulating a sunrise or sunset.

Unfortunately we know little else about it–materials, who built it or even its size. When you’re in Munich in September or early Oktober, how about stumbling in there before you get completely blind and getting us some information? We’d appreciate it and you might take home memories of something other than bier. Naah, who are we kidding? You won’t remember it. So email with the info while you’re there, please!

Score: 7 druids. Nicely done from what we can see.  We’re still looking for a photo of the replica at the Granada Science Park in Andalucia. If you know anyone near there or going there, bribe them for us, please! We’re still looking for our first Spanish-speaking Stonehenge.

Wells Bombardier, Stonehenge in Advertising

bombadier

photo by Feòrag NicBhrìde, with permission

We don’t usually post pictures of pictures of Stonehenge. That way lies madness–gratuitous uses pop up everywhere. But this amusing use of Stonehenge to advertise Wells Bombardier was sent us by the alert reader who is the prattler at The Pagan Prattle. We like receiving pictures from readers!

Of course you have to be British to understand everything in the picture on this bottle, but Clonehenge readers of all nationalities will recognise the linteled stone circle at the bottom of the ad.  We were going to make a joke about whether Stonehenge received a fee for its endorsement of a beer until we saw the notice saying “Official beer of English Heritage.” Apparently someone or something did receive a fee.

No score for this, of course, but we do like the red squirrels. And speaking of endorsements, here are a couple of Cthulhu-related items we enjoyed on Feòrag NicBhrìde’s website linked in the caption above: Cthulhu Nigiri and Cthulhu-na-Gig. But we will resist the temptation to start a blog on Cthulhu-related art!

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Avebury, Silbury, and West Kennet Long Barrow

akmmodel-2

from the Alexander Keiller Museum, by Pete Glastonbury, with permission

Another model of the Avebury landscape has been sent us by faithful reader and ace photographer Pete Glastonbury. This one is of molded stone and shows the landscape as it is now but without houses, cars, etc.

We miss the stones on this one, but the large scale that made them difficult to include also made it possible to include Windmill Hill, almost certainly an important part of whatever was being done on that landscape in the times of the builders.

Avebury is in the middle, the mound below it is Silbury and the cigar-shaped thing toward the bottom in the center is West Kennet Long Barrow. Score: 6 druids. Oh, to be in Wiltshire now that Spring is here!

Clay Stonehenges, North Olmstead, Ohio

stonehenge02p

photos from promotional website for Hawkes Nest in Affalon

Found someone in Ohio who is making clay Stonehenge replicas, either as it was when complete or as it is now. stonehenge01pThey offer them at a modest price. Each is about 8 inches across.

We wonder how many they’ve sold. This sort of thing is dangerous. Before you know it, these seemingly insignificant items could infect the minds of Ohioans and send them into a henge-building frenzy! It’s especially risky in Ohio, where the land has already generated some henge-like structures.

These little models are surprisingly accurate. We see bluestones, trilithons, including the inner horseshoe. We see the so called altar stone. It does look a little claymation, but not bad! Score: 7 druids for the N. Olmstead replicas.

Okay, we know we said we were quitting, but there are still replicas out there to post, so you can expect it once in a while!

Fairy Stonehenge, another garden variation

stonehengemnbphotographysm

photo by Merissa Barcomb, with permission [as with all pictures here, do not use without getting your own permissions!]

Down at the foot of the garden/ Hidden from everyone’s view/ There do the elves and the fairies/ Dance amidst blossoms and dew./ There, when the dusk has just fallen,/ Spells o’er the stones do they weave/ Until a small Stonehenge they’ve fashioned/ To loom in the glimmering eve.

Or some such. You know the drill. This is actually a charming little garden henge. As with so many, it is just a set of trilithons, which takes its score down a bit, but it certainly has ambience and possibly a gauze over the camera lens.

Score: 6 druids or 7 fairies.  A nice post for the spring season!

On another note, we regret to say that Clonehenge may be winding down. Of course we will continue to post new henges that are sent to us or that we stumble upon, but the long hours of internet searching are no longer paying off. Many requests for photo permissions are still out there and if they do come in, we will post them. Also, if you’ve sent us one and we somehow forgot to post it, please get in touch!

While our days of regular posting appear to be over, roughly 5 months after we began, we are still here, so do email or comment if you have any communication for us. See you around the web!

Double Action Stonehenge: Emotiv Game Control Demo

A different kind of post today. What better than a 5000-year-old monument, or at least a not very good likeness of it, to demonstrate a state of the art gaming interface? Watch as this young man moves the stones into a circle!

If, as some say, our life is not real but virtual, maybe the druids used this method to raise the original on Salisbury Plain, even though they wouldn’t reach England for at least another thousand years. There, people–you saw it here: Ancient mystery solved on Clonehenge!

Cakehenge, Done Right!

cakehenge_by_ren_sama

cakehenge and photo by ~Ren-sama, with permission

There are cakehenges and then there are cakehenges. We have seen a few, but this one takes . . . never mind. You know what we mean. In most cases, as with the cupcake henge we posted not long ago, there’s a cake base with the replica on top made of candy or lady fingers or something. But ~Ren-Sama actually baked the cake stones separately and then assembled and iced them. The deviantART page says, “Five days of baking, five hours of construction.This turned out better than my wildest dreams.”

It certainly gets the Clonehenge seal of approval! That’s a lot of work to go to, and we see inner trilithons, fallen stones, possibly the right number of lintels . . . We have thought for a while that a clever bread baker could bake separate stones and make a very good replica, and this is the closest we’ve seen to that.

Score: 6½ druids! Bravo, ~Ren-sama! More, please!

Raven Hill Discovery Center Stonehenge, Michigan

ancient-world

photo from Cheri at the Raven Hill Discovery Center, used with permission
(Stonehenge replica on the left and moai on the far right.)

“At present our Stonehenge replica contains just the ‘bluestones’ of Stonehenge,”  a note from Raven Hill tells us. Although it may look like a simple stone circle, great care has gone into stone placement, and the heel stone, altar stone and inner horseshoe are all represented.

It is part of the 30-acre Ancient World section of RHDC, which includes this Stonehenge, a Mayan ball court, an obelisk, a house foundation as from Skara Brae, and other things including–but of course!–a moai, or Easter Island head.

Now normally we lightly mock the moai/Stonehenge combination, using the penguin/polar bear analogy used here before, but we will cut Raven Hill some slack. We know it isn’t easy to attract the attention of the young. You might say Stonehenge and the moai are the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of stone monuments. If you’re trying to reach kids, what could be better than putting both on the cover of your magazine, so to speak?* And including Skara Brae is a point in their favour!

Score: 5½ druids for the care and knowledge that went into this replica, despite no trilithons or ditch and bank. Raven Hill looks like an excellent place for a family day or several family days a year. See the comments for more info on this interesting and informative place!

*This does not let other Stonehenge/moai combiners off the hook. Sorry!