Author Archives for nancy wisser

We Are Not Discussing the Rescue Home for Ducks!

Wastepaper Stonehenge

Once in a while, once in a great while, these days, we get the urge to post something on Clonehenge like we used to in the olden days. Not sure what brings it on–maybe it’s something we ate. Maybe it’s time to try fasting!

But for now here we are and the first henge we want to show you is this wastepaper henge, as posted by Philip Carr-Gomm. Apparently the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids needed some way to package their bard-ish and druidy bits (we don’t know what an ovate is, so we are just ignoring that part) and they decided to have someone make one for them. And so…

“a manufacturer was found – who was even more eccentric than the folk at OBOD HQ [!!!, ed.]. Run by an old hippie, the factory has won environmental awards, is situated in the Downs in a recycled chicken farm, and in their spare time the staff run a rescue home for ducks. And now they must have more time on their hands because they’ve built a replica of Stonehenge out of waste paper and cardboard. Anyone who gets one of the Order’s boxes can take satisfaction in knowing that it might have been made out of a Stonehenge…sort of…”

On a scale of one to ten, how difficult, nay, painful, do you think it is for us to proceed without devoting at least a paragraph to the phrase rescue home for ducks (henceforward RHFD)? And yet we soldier on! We have, of course, posted a garbagehenge in the past, and a clever, politically-motivated thing it was, set in the city of Montreal. This is in quite a different mood, built by employees of a company run by an old hippie on a recycled chicken farm (we have no idea how one recycles chickens! Harhar!) by people who run a RHFD. And, of course, it is made of materials that are being recycled. Bravo!

Score? We give it 6 druids. Lovely idea, presented modestly, not even posted by the people who built it. (And quite likely the only henge we have ever posted that was made by people who also ran a RHFD.)

We’re getting into the swing of this. We may have to post another henge before the night is out. Maybe it’s something we drank!

Does anyone know of an old hippie anywhere who might start a rescue home for henges? It may be an idea whose time has come. Remember, careless henging can result in a henge who has to be put down. Henge responsibly!

Bouncy Stonehenge: Nothing Less Than the Culmination of All of Human Endeavor!

Screen shot from this BBC video . Don’t not watch it!

All of our faithful readers know that we are quiet and moderate in speech. We avoid hyperbole even if it takes the strength of ten thousand atom bombs, because we know that hyperbole is the greatest threat the universe faces. So when we say that this bouncy castle Stonehenge built by Jeremy Deller is the ultimate culmination of the entire history of human civilisation, nay, of everything that has happened since the Big Bang, you know you can believe what we say and repeat it without fear of embarrassment.

A bouncy inflatable Stonehenge.  We have been calling for an inflatable Stonehenge since at least our second (or was it third?) Spinal Tap post, in October of 2009, and for a bouncy Stonehenge since the Irish bouncy dolmen post, in July of 2011. And it appears that the universe, or perhaps Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller, was listening!

One man in the video is asked. “Is it art?’ and answers, “For me–aye.  It’s as good as it gets, isn’t it?” Another fellow says he would like one in his backyard and the BBC presenter asks, “You would like an inflatable Stonehenge in your backyard?” and the answer is, “Yes, I would. Yes. Who wouldn’t?” (Italics are ours.)

Those two men may never have read the Clonehenge blog, but they are honorary friends of Clonehenge and would be given full member privileges if they ever visited the Clonehenge Private Club and (mini) Golf Course. They understand true greatness when they see it. No wonder the world is going to end in 2012. Mankind can reach no greater height than this!

We are not told in this video where this Stonehenge is right now [we are now told it is Glasgow, which leaves more questions, like—why?], but apparently it will be traveling around the island of Great Britain during the Olympics. Happy to know that at least one interesting thing will be happening there in 2012! What a shame we can’t add this to our list of 72 Large Permanent Replicas, but that would require quite a lot of puncture repair kits!

Our hope is that eventually many of these bouncy Stonehenges will be made and placed in prominent places in cities, and backyards, around the world. Let’s hope they keep it to Stonehenge, though. No one wants a bouncy Rosslyn Chapel or a bouncy Angkor Watt, do we? ….

…. Or do we?! Hmmm. Taking comments on that.

At any rate, it is clear now that this is what English Heritage should have at the Visitor Centre, with smaller ones available in the gift shop. As to score, well, it seems obvious that out of a possible score of ten druids, this one goes to eleven. It’s one louder!

P.S.: Our thanks to the Mike Pitts Digging Deeper blog for giving us a mention. He says “Good places to start to see some of these are at Wikipedia and – best of all – Clonehenge.” We wish we were humble enough to say he is wrong.

And so until next time, Clonehengians, happy henging!

Achill Update and Pictures Without Stories

photo by seequinn on Flickr, used according to permissions

News on Joe McNamara’s structure on the Irish island of Achill, nicknamed Achill Henge. Mr. McNamara has been ordered to take down Achill Henge, pending a planning board ruling on whether the structure should be exempt from the need for planning permissions.  We like the last sentence of the article: “Locals in Achill have speculated that it is ‘unlikely’ that McNamara will take the structure down.”

We know, we know, it’s none of our business, and people have a right to have their laws followed, but we just want to know what it was for and what the henge was suppose to look like when completed! Plus, let’s face it, where else in the world is there a greater advocate of Stonehenge replicas than here on Clonehenge? Our motto: Bringing you global news and intelligence on Stonehenge replicas in the internet since 1784!

Signpost to Achill Henge, again by seequinn on Flickr (We love this!)

1784 was a good year on the net. We remember the first time we got Wolfgang-rolled…  But enough nostalgia.

While we’re posting for the first time in a while, we thought we would pass along some henge pictures posted for us by Facebook friends of the blog but without much provenance. If you can help by bringing us more information on these, please do. You can reach us on the Clonehenge Facebook group or at the email address on the sidebar.

A glass trilithon posted to the Clonehenge Facebook group by Bruce Bedlam of Stonehenge-is-a-building fame. Elegant.

and this cakey henge was sent us by friend of the blog Jez Reell. All we know is that it was created by Dominic Wilcox for Jaffa Cakes out of Jaffa cakes. What we like best about this is the reflection of the circle of trilithons on the plate. Well photographed! [Update May 8, 2012: We found the back story for this one here, thanks to Mike Williams–the shaman-y one.]

One more note before we go. We actually received an email from someone at CBS Sunday Morning, a news program in the States, asking to interview us in relation to a piece about what is real and what is fake. We sent our contact information, but they never got back to us. We now suspect that what they wanted was not an interview but a replica of an interview. They were right not to call back. Interview replicas would be a whole other blog!!

So keep your eyes open for new henges. Whether or not you are in County Mayo, have a good Saint Patrick’s Day tomorrow. And until next time, happy henging!

P.S.: If anyone knows the lastest news about or the current state of Achill Henge, a comment about it would be much appreciated. Thank you!

The Other Half of Whatsit…

photo by Jacobo Fraga

We wanted to tell you about the Heritage Journal posting the second half of their article about us, but frankly we can’t be arsed. We are feeling indifferent, lethargic, apathetic… Hmm, it appears there are quite a few of these in the thesaurus. We may as well spread them out.

It is not as if it is the greatest article in the history of the world, or that it is going to rocket us to stardom so we can tell the world how henging can cure cancer, bring world peace, end poverty and oppression, save the environment, ease your digestion, make old people look and feel young again, and almost make your family gatherings bearable (some things even henging can’t solve completely!). It’s not as if we are even now taking out huge loans based on our projected fame and fortune as a result of this article…*sigh* *shrug*

WRONG!!!!1! Grab our coattails, Gentle Readers, because we are soaring to the stars and we need you along as ballast, no, no, we mean as our entourage! This is it–the greatest occurrence since the Big Bang. Go buy that backhoe and start building your Stonehenge replicas now. We are the next big thing. <obligatory humility> But we don’t want to toot our own horn or anything. </obligatory humility> Wink, wink.

No one saw us coming. We are the Frodo Baggins of the blogosphere. So read the article, tell all of your hobbit friends (but watch the hyperbole!), and be ready for change on a global scale.

And until next time, of course, happy henging!

So Exciting We Forgot to Post a Title!

photo from the Taipei public art site

We like to recommend any interesting, well-written articles that come along, especially, of course, if they have to do with Stonehenge replicas and even more so if… Oh, WTF  (that stands for “What the hell” in computer hieroglyphs), we’ll just come out and say it–SOMEONE POSTED AN ARTICLE ABOUT US!!!!!1!!

Heritage Action–the brilliant British one, not the scary right wing USAnian one– posted the first part of a two-part article about the Clonehenge blog, and it was basically nicked from a private email we sent to Nigel Swift, but with our happy permission.  You may read it here.

What’s that you say? You think we linked to it too many times in this post? Well, you’re actually lucky we didn’t make each word in this post a separate link to the article. We considered it, but luckily and unsurprisingly we are far too lazy! So there.

Our thanks to Nigel Swift and Heritage Action. When the second half of the article comes out, we will try to announce it in a more mature and decorous manner.  Ahem. And until next time, happy henging!

BBC Stonehenge Replica Department Reports on Achill Henge

Stonehenge replicas making the news again, this time at the BBC. We have done several (some might say enough) posts on the mysterious henge at Achill in Ireland, starting with this one. We’re still curious to see what he meant to put in the center. Regardless of what happens, we love seeing Stonehenge replicas in the news. Just last month, Carhenge got its picture in Fortean Times Magazine!

Henging is coming up in the world. Make one yourself and have it featured here: your number one source for all things henging: Clonehenge the blog about Stonehenge replicas hither and yon.

We kid you not!

[P.S.:  Shouldn’t the Beeb be throwing us a little sugar for the research they borrowed for that unusual Stonehenge replica sidebar? Just lookin’ for our propers, folks!]

Bandage Henge 2.0: Anatomically Correct Medi-lithic Site!

photo and henging by Kirsten Shield

Back on January 27, we received the photo on the left with this explanation: “G’day [Clonehenge], After a particularly stressful day in the Burns Unit I was restocking bandages when the different sizes reminded me of the uprights with the lintels. Next thing I knew I had a Henge on my hands!” Of course she was being metaphorical (mediphorical?). It wasn’t on her hands, but was, as we can see, in the Clean Area.

If we had received that henge photo two days earlier, even as elementary as it was we might nonetheless have posted it immediately as it seemed like the perfect thing for Burns Night. Alas, it was not to be! By the time we received it, it was too late for us to delight in yet another dreadful pun for the blog.

The letter, however, also contained this glint of hope: “I plan to do a proper and anatomically correct Bandage Henge in the near future. ” and it was signed, Kirsten, Brisbane Australia. Well, we have now received Kirstenhenge 2.0 and we have to say that it is the nicest bandage henge anyone ever sent to us.

Interestingly, Kirsten confesses that instead of Stonehenge itself or a plan of it, she used as a model for her bandage henge Brock Davis’s brilliant rice krispy henge (or rice krispyhenge) that we posted for New Year’s and that was since featured on National Public Radio in the States. We love when Stonehenge replicas make the news!

The result is admirable, as you can see in the top picture and the one to the left. No, the inner trilithon horse shoe does not quite open to the three-lintel sequence in the outer circle, but, hey–she was working from a photo of a tiny inaccurate model. Other than that it is quite well done.

What concerns us slightly is the doors in the background. In what room did she set out her carefully crafted henge? We have an image of a coma patient spread out on a bed behind her as she takes the photograph. Anything for art, and especially henging!

Score: 7 druids! It is clear that this was a labour of love. LOVE! that is the word of the day. Happy Valentine’s Day to all, with or without a real lover. We all know you singles have your dreams and fantasies. You may be doing as well or better than many who face the challenge of the real thing (our own partner, for example, has us to put up with…).

You know what your Valentine wants: a Stonehenge replica, of course! Make it from biscuits or chocolate candies. Hide that ring and its glittering rock among the stones. There are few things more romantic and at the same time subliminally sexual than that shaft of light streaming in between a pair of uprights! If you make one, send us pictures. Of the henge only, please. There are plenty of sites for those other photos.

And so to all, happy henging!

News Bulletin: The Latest from Achill–New Update!

Note: as of February 7, the court was adjourned for three weeks. Achill Henge is still standing and will be for a while longer!

Earlier news: The Mayo News says that the motion for an exemption that would allow Achill Henge to remain standing, and to be finished (we’re still dying to know what is to be put in the center!), has been denied, but the decision is being appealed.

Mr. McNamara, we are still cheering you on!!

Burning Man Project: BASShenge, and No, It’s Not Fish!

The code didn’t work, but we tried to embed the video here. We recommend watching it.

People are collecting money to create a Stonehenge replica, fully aligned with the cosmos, for Burning Man* 2012. We quote:

“Whoever built Stonehenge, be it people, angels or aliens, gifted to us a breathtaking experience for which we are thankful but we feel, through our immeasurable gratitude and awe, that something is missing; …we’re replacing the Some of the Stone in Stonehenge with 100,000 watts of BASS. Huge speakers varying in size and shape will help comprise the imitation stone blocks we are using to recreate Stonehenge. You see, all we want to do to The Hanging Rock is add more Rock. And maybe throw a raging party on a timeless landmark.

 To that end we have: Artists from a wide variance of musical and artistic genres, large scale lighting that will include over 120 LEDS lighting the outer ring of stones, pyrotechnics and fire art, crop circles projected on the surrounding playa, interactive art displays and multiple circus, performance, and fire troupes. This project is currently underway and will be presented at Burning Man 2012  In Correct Alignment with the sun, stars and the moon..”

Check it out. Dudes. Notice the gifts offered on the right side of the webpage to those who pledge. For a $300.00 pledge you get “a custom handmade BASShenge Druid Cloak with soft fuzzy lining. Color options available.” Dude!!

Of course, if this happens, people, we want pictures!

*There is a history of henges at the Burning Man Festival. We have posted two others, with links to more: Sol Henge, which was another large musically-related circle (links to a mudhenge and a twinkiehenge from Burning Man on that page), and a henge made of dead computer towers, another item doomed to extinction before long.

Other Megalithic Replicas: Göbekli Tepe Done in Legos!

photo and awesome replica by Gabriel Thomson

It’s 2012. We expect to see a lot of awesomeness this year. In order to do our part, we are making this our first post of the year: a Lego replica of the 11,000-year-old megalithic complex called Göbekli Tepe in Turkey the Kurdish part). That’s right, folks–when Stonehenge was new, this was already way, way older than Stonehenge is to us right now!

Well, not this, exactly. This is a Lego. But you know what we mean–in the context of Göbekli Tepe, Stonehenge would have to be considered a modern site. You know all of this, though–since you remember the post we did on that Meterhenge in July! (And, yes, happily we have learned the fine art of the umlaut since then.) We KNOW you read all of our posts! Still, if your memory is not what it used to be, try this link and this video (warning, it’s from the Ancient Aliens show. But it has Stonehenge in it!) to refresh your memory.

Anyway, back on the topic of replicas, we think this one is brilliant. It was created for a contest run by MOC, a Lego fandom group. We hope it did well! Someone pointed out that it even includes the sacred ancient mulberry tree that is near the site. That is the kind of detail we like.

Well done, Mr. Thomson. We can’t score it, not only because it is not Stonehenge but because no one even has the faintest idea of what kind of priests or priestesses would or (like the druids at Stonehenge) would not have supervised its building.  If we did, this would probably get 9 of them.

Hope you’re rockin’ it this year! Until next time, happy henging!