Aaron Burell, aligner of the Odessa Stonehenge, at the henge itself

Summer solstice about to happen in the northern hemisphere and if there is to be a Clonehenge holiday, this is as good as any. After all, there is nearly consensus that winter solstice was the big holiday for which Stonehenge was built and yet summer solstice draws the largest crowds there. After all, it’s warmer!That is the sort of irony for which Clonehenge is made.

Clonehenge was created because in honesty we were flabbergasted at the discovery that people all over the world at any given time are making Stonehenges out of any available material. From time to time you see someone trying to claim the making of henges for herself or himself, but the whole principle of Clonehenge is that the making of Stonehenges is universal and quite beyond logic and explanation, a human phenomenon that is not likely to end any time soon.

Of course over the years we have not been the only ones tracking henges, although we like to think we have been the most comprehensive. Among the people watching and thinking about the proliferation of henges is a radio producer for the BBC called Mark Burman. In his words,

“I guess when I first fell under the stony shadow I was envisaging a picaresque, mildly piss taking, kookiness road trip through America. Problem is—it is a long, bloody road trip and every story has to be researched and a journey has to be planned and the nature of radio schedules and radio budgets is I don’t have 2 months to scoot through America-which is what it would take. I began in 2014 in Texas as I was making a story out there on the real Searchers. But that’s as far as I have got and my nice WS editor has been happy to wait. So it has been a story greatly interrupted but as I am back in the States at least twice more this year as it seems nuts not to add to my Henge stories.”

Rehearsing MacBeth at Stonehenge II

Aboveyou can see pictures from his visits to two of Texas’s Stonehenges, the somewhat humourous and strangely proportioned but popular Stonehenge II and the beautifully made Stonehenge at Odessa, surely one of the five best in the western hemisphere if not the world.

The news is that Mr. Burman may be making the trek back to the States once or twice in 2017 and it is possible he may be accompanying the staff of Clonehenge to a Stonehenge replica or two in the eastern United States. It will not be in time for solstice, of course, but as at solstice a person’s fancy turns to thoughts of Stonehenge, it seemed as good a good time as any to bring it up. If we begin the Clonehenge year at solstice (and why not?), this may be the beginning of a resurgence in the vitality of henging and stories of henging! We hear of much worse things on a daily basis, so perhaps people are ready to permit a little weirdness in the mix.

Best wishes to all and of course, happy henging! The entire staff at Clonehenge wishes you well, O Gentle Reader! May the year that begins now bring you good things and better days than we can currently envision!