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Let Them Henge Cake: Sweet Stonehenge from the Land of Robin Hood!

photo, cake, and henge by Sharon Barwell of Iced-Moments, Nottingham

Let them eat cake, that takes the cake, the icing on the cake, the cake is a lie… Cake seems to enter into a lot of cliches, or are they memes now?And those who have been to Discworld have no doubt met Mrs. Cake. There is even a musical group called Cake. Ahem. That may refer to a different kind of cake, but nevertheless… We have a henge to discuss here!

It is brilliant. Wonderful. Or as the rebel colonists say, Amazing! We let the builder, Sharon Barwell, tell it in her own words:

“My friend asked me to make a cake for her husband’s birthday back on 28th April and the brief was either a mole or Stonehenge…well there was no choice in my mind, the henge it had to be!

As Pagans they had a large merry meet and the cake was cut, but only after they had sliced the henge off and saved it for all eternity! FABULOUS! I was really pleased as even though it was all edible, I just couldn’t bear to see people eating my lovingly hand-crafted standing stones or even the fallen stones! Thank goodness for my own photographs taken each time I visit, and for the National Geographic website! I tried hard to keep it to scale and had fun carving each stone individually, seeing them come to life before me…It was time consuming, but no where near as hard work as it much have been for the Ancients!”

As we seem to recall they say in Nottingham, home of this baker/artist, “Marry, that meeteth my whole heart!”

We are usually leery of anyone who uses as many exclamation points as we do!!!!! But this someone is given a pardon for having made our highest scoring cake to date. Score: 8½ druids! For more pictures, see here.

She has, as she says, paid close attention to the monument as it stands now: where the uprights and lintels and even the fallen stones are, and even better, the shapes of the individual stones. The average person often doesn’t notice, but the stones of Stonehenge are not of uniform shapes, but each has a shape of its own. Ms. Barwell took the time to sculpt each one. Remarkable!

We have seen and posted a lot of cakes. You can see the three best here, here and (cupcakes) here. Oh, and this Spinal Tap related one here, cucumber included. They are all pretty wonderful, but this one, um, takes the, hmmm, prize, shall we say. We are pleased to hear that this henge will be preserved, hopefully somewhere away from ants and children.

What is it about cake that captures the imagination of the masses? Cakes are made in every shape and size, including pops. People leap out of them, and they play a part in weddings. They are so embedded in our culture, it is no wonder they are well represented in the annals (two Ns!) of henging. We know we will see more, but for now this is the one to beat! !!!! No one matches our use of exclamation points, Sharon, no one!

Until next time, sweet friends, keep an eye on the Olympics for hidden henges, and we wish you happy henging!

Glimpses of a Carhenge–An Odd Corner of Henging History!

“The Secret Life of Machines is an educational television series presented by Tim Hunkin and Rex Garrod, in which the two explain the inner workings and history of common household and office machinery.” So says Wikipedia and why should we bother to reword it just to sound like we’re not quoting it?

Friend of the blog Josteyn Ward [about whom we know things you would not want to know about your friends!] posted this video and its henge on the Clonehenge Facebook group along with its partner video which shows a car engine, clearly meant as a sacrifice, being carried into the henge by people clad in white, starting at about23 minutes 45 seconds in. Brilliant!

On the website, they have this: “We made carhenge for the car and engine programme. There are several permanent carhenges in the world, most famously one in the US desert. Ours only lasted two months, but it had a good site, and many people made pilgrimages to it from the main road a mile away. It is best seen in the opening shot of the car programme.”

We are amazed that we never heard of this autohenge before now! It is extremely rare for a television show to make and feature its own Stonehenge replica. The history of henging has many hidden corners. Score: 8 druids, as much for the procession and sacrifice of the internal combustion engine as for the Stonehenge replica itself!

This idea of Stonehenge as a place of human sacrifice persists, but happily it is not taken as seriously as it once was. It makes an excellent basis for jokes. Nothing tickles the funny bone like an innocent person being laid out on a stone and eviscerated before a large crowd! Possibly our friend Josteyn Ward would want to speak to this. Possibly. But we don’t actually want to know.

Until the next time friends, happy henging!

We Order You to Like This Cheesehenge! (Not Facebook Like–REAL Like!)

Cheese or brilliance?

We want to like this cheesehenge by Prudence Staite. We really do. We should like this. Sigh. We order you to like it! Here’s why. It is well done with well-shaped stones. The inner trilithon horseshoe faces the remaining three-lintel stretch, which we always look for. Bluestones are included, and we believe the red cheese represents fallen stones…  So much has been done right!

We’re not certain what the crackers represent. Aubrey holes? Tourists? Hippies and policemen? And the strings of lights? No, thank you. Still, that’s not what holds us back. Maybe it’s just the angle and the photograph that make it seem so uninspired and uninspiring. We’re not sure. Maybe it’s just that it’s one of those henges that got a lot of publicity, while many brilliant ones get none or almost none. And that as a result we are forced to post it after the fact, just so it is included, even though everyone has seen it already.

At any rate, it deserves a good score. We award it 8½ phlegmatic druids. Of the many cheesehenges we have seen over the years it is by far the truest in detail.

We really do want to like it! Until next time, friends, get your henges in a row!

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!