Category Archives for Uncategorized

Lego Doctor Who: The Secret of Stonehenge

lego-dr-who

from the Lego Doctor Who by thegreattotemaster

How can we resist posting this one? The strange genius who generated this objet d’art lives in Iceland. This salt ceramic dough henge is just the sort of odd thing we like. Here is the video of the 2nd episode. The link for the first is here. (The haziness of the video, by the way, is an indication of pre-dawn in the story. The light improves as the clip continues.)

As we said, we sense there is some kind of strange genius going on here and, if he continues on the path he’s on, we expect great things from the totemaster!

Note the trilithon, bluestones–this builder has taken time to look at Stonehenge. Score: 7 druids, and, yes, they were awarded partly for attitude!

Dominohenge: Not to Be Toppled

domino

photos and henge by errordactyl and brother, with permission

As we’ve said before, anything vaguely rectangular and three-dimensional eventually becomes the material for a henge, and dominoes are no exception. Here’s a link to another one [link] with added amusing comments.

We like the one above because someone actually looked at Stonehenge (see photo below) and noticed the trilithons grouped in the center and that many of the lintels in the sarsen circle are down. The use of two dominoes for each upright was thoughtful, too.

domino-2We can’t quite make out what the little coloured figures are but we’re going to take them as bluestones. If you want, the glass can be a UFO. Why not?

Score: 6½ druids. We’re glad that errordactyl thinks  Stonehenge is f***ing awesome. But we’re not sure we agree with the commenter on the other dominohenge who implies that Stonehenge would look better if it had dalmation-type spots. Don’t give the vandals any new ideas. And leave the toppling to the pros!

Pavel Pavel’s Stonehenge, Czech Republic

strakonice2

photo from Strakonice promotional materials

Pavel Pavel, a Czech engineer, built this trilithon in the town of Strakonice in order to demonstrate a method of lifting heavy lintels into place without modern machinery, hoping to show how Stonehenge could have been built. So like its closest Stonehenge replica neighbor, Stonehenge in der Oberpfalz, it qualifies as a Stonehenge replica because of the intention of its builders. More recent (and better) pictures than this one show an arc of boulders placed with it to form a circle.

Delightfully, Pavel Pavel’s interest in prehistoric stone-moving techniques resulted in another experiment. He also had an Easter Island head made of concrete and used it to show how those sculptures might have been walked over the land with the help of a surpisingly small number of people. (Does enjoying the eccentricities of automatically- translated pages make us bad people?)  So, while we are not certain, the town of Strakonice may qualify for our list of places* that have BOTH a Stonehenge replica and a moai. How did we not find this one sooner?!

Score: 5½ druids. It’s little more than a trilithon, after all. But it’s another proof of the world’s fascination with the Wiltshire wonder!

*Kennewick Stonehenge, Texas’s Stonehenge II, Harry Rossett’s Stonehenge, and Tom’s Stonehenge from the Gardens of Hope–and those are just the ones we know of!

Wood Block Henge, and The Story of Garden Henge

bored-friends

photo by David Lewis, with permission

“Garden Henge was a very mysterious place. No-one knew who had built it, or how long ago it had been built, and there were all kinds of stories told about strange things that happened at Garden Henge at night.” It may be made of wood and open to the public, but I think we all know the reference being made in this charming bit of a children’s story. To clinch it we have the pictures. We challenge anyone to name another circle of uprights with lintels or with trilithons in the center. Stonehenge has no peer!

This henge is made of blocks from a wooden tower play set by Garden Games. It is like a giant Jenga game, for those of you who are more familiar with that. Jenga blocks, too, end up in their share of henges. As do blocks of all kinds, sometimes with unrealistically peaceful stuffed animals!

We found the story simple and charming, with just the right balance of peril and comfort for a young child. The toppling arch is a good reminder of why people are kept away from Stonehenge most of the time. Score: 7 druids for the story and the henge.

Sad that the real situation of Stonehenge keeps it from being the sort of thing that children might stumble upon in a story, hide under in a storm, and get spirited away to another time and place in the time-honoured tradition of the children’s fantasy tale!

Window of the World Stonehenge, Shenzhen!

shenzhen-the-stone-henge-11

photo by Franklin Cardenas, with permission

Since starting this blog we have seen some miniature examples of gardens with scenes from other parts of the world. There was Cockington Green in Canberra, Babbacombe Model Village in Greater London, Miniwelt in Saxony, and of course Legoland Windsor. In Shenzhen, China, a city near Hong Kong, there is a not-so-miniature version of this idea, Window of the World.

It’s really the creme-de-la-creme of ersatz tourist worlds, and their Stonehenge replica does not disappoint. It is the most realistic replica yet, from what we can see in the pictures. The stones are convincingly stained to resemble lichen and please do check out the lintel-knob on top of the sarsen seen here [link]! Of course you have to watch out where you take the picture if you don’t want to get the Eiffel Tower in the background!

Beijing has a similar park, called The World Park and we will try to bring you that one another day, but we don’t think its Stonehenge can compare with this one. Score: 8 druids for the builders at Shenzhen, who, well, know how to make a good copy!

Share

ChampagneHenge, A Henge with Us in Mind!

champagnehenge

henge and photo by Matt DeHaven, with permission

Oh, how Clonehenge has risen up the social ladder, from spaghettio-and-sausage henge to Dom Perignon henge! Built, back–lit, and sent in by an alert reader, this henge is built of the black gift boxes in which Dom Perignon is shipped (are the bottles in there? impossible to tell!).This is not Matt’s personal stash, by the way, but some bottles ordered for a party at the restaurant he manages–or so he claims . . .

With Matt DeHaven’s admission that he built this henge “after recently discovering Clonehenge“, we have now gone from documenting Stonehenge replicas to generating them! We are feeling chuffed. Thank you, Mr. DeHaven!

Is that bottle a heel stone? Or is it the other way and those flutes are bluestones? It matters not. Those boxes certainly loom impressively like sarsens. That’s good enough for us. Score: 6½ druids for bubbliest henge yet!

Dating with Stonehenge

dating-stonehenge

henge and picture by Blake Meyer, completely without permission

Okay, it’s late on Valentine’s Day. A certain someone is crashed out and we may or may not have had a lovely Beaujolais with a bit of chocolate. We have been waiting to hear from this henger for a long time,  possibly an absent blogger of a long-dead blog. We hereby break our own rules and repost without permission. A request from the blogger will delete this post.

In the meantime, here’s an  interesting replica of unknown inspiration. The post says: “ . . I cut the large pieces of cardboard (courtesy of the dining common) into the correct shapes and I folded and duct-taped large crinkled pieces of paper on a few of them . . . Then I spray-painted the Stonehenges (I did buy the paint), and stapled them to scrap wood from stage for stability. And VOILA! STONEHENGES! They were a big hit at the outing and now they reside as decoration in my room.” And he’s right–that Erika is cute!

Bravo, Blake! Your mysterious “Stonehenges” are a hit with us! Score: 7 druids for a bl***y good job making a Stonehenge out of scraps just lying around! We hope you have gone on to larger, more permanent replicas, and that you’ve hung on to the lovely Erika!

Poem Henge: Fridge Doors at the (New) Jersey Shore

refrig-poem-henge

Photos by Sister72 (Jackie Fritsche), with permission

In 2005, in celebration of the autumnal equinox, the Belmar Arts Council of Belmar, New Jersey, sponsored a Poem Henge on the beach. Part of the official announcement read: “Three dozen discarded refrigerator doors will be erected in the shape of Stonehenge, the ancient ruins in England. Local artists and art students will paint words onto magnets from poems created by members of the Blue Collective.”

refrig-poem-henge-2

Well, we have to say that this is an interesting idea.  We like seeing the Atlantic Ocean out behind the henge. You have to wonder who thought of it. And where did the refrigerator doors come from? Summer rentals abandoned for the winter? You can see a few more of the poems here. We chose these pictures for the views of the structure.

Is this weird or brilliant? You decide. We have to like the idea of Stonehenge replicas as a base for other kinds of creation. You could have an art-henge, or a fashion-show henge. We’ve seen Surf Henge (there’s more than one!) and BoatHenge. The possibilities are endless! Score: 6 druids for this equinox henge. How many times do we have to tell you not to poetry-slam the refrigerator door!?

We have now heard from one of the originators of the project. Please read the first comment for more information. Thank you, Kevin!

Snowhenge Bristol

snowhenge-phredd1

photos by Phredd Groves, with permission

As some of you may know, Great Britain has been, um, blessed with snow this winter and although in many places they received no more than six inches, leave it to the resourceful English to fashion many kinds of snow creations from almost nothing! Including this snowhenge built by members of the University of Bristol’s Archaeology Department, including, in order as pictured above, Becca Pullen, Stuart Ladd, Sian Thomas, and Sean Clifford.

snowhenge-phredd-2As you can see here, although they did not make the henge circular, they did go to the trouble of making a bank, which is as good as a ditch and bank in this situation, we think. Wouldn’t want them digging up the university lawn!

Bravo for this crew of eager henge builders! Whatever important tasks they should have been performing, we’re glad we put them aside and turned to henging! May it become the fashion.

Score: 6½ druids for this brilliant henge made from gifts that fell from the heavens.

Theatre District Replica, Milton Keynes (now defunct)

milton-keynes3

photos from the MK News

We are leaving this post up as a memorial, but it has come to our attention that this lovely and unique black clonehenge was destroyed along with other sculptures in the Science Garden to make way for the new Premier Inn. Alas,  smol friend, Clonehenge will remember you!

For a nice Flickr photo, see here. In the theatre district of the city of Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, this sculpture stands in a park where a ferris wheel once stood.One article says, “It has been designed by Pauley landscapes to represent civilisation, mankind and the universe.”

mk-2A Stonehenge replica is certainly a thoughtful choice for that representation. There was some trouble, though, when local pagans objected to this secular use of the sacred image of Stonehenge (This is one of those incidents that sets the U.K. in a positive light compared to the States!) Ha, MK Pagans–take a look around Clonehenge. The world is lousy with secular replicas! The good thing is that they always generate interest in Stonehenge among people who didn’t know it before.

In the role of peacemaker, the local pagan priest offered assistance in aligning the circle and requested that a plaque about stone circles be posted by it. “ ‘I think it is fantastic, such a lovely thing to have,’ he added.” It looks as if  this replica could turn out to be even better than it was meant to be!

As for scoring, well, we don’t know the materials used or much else about it but we encourage the building of Stonehenge replicas in public spaces! Score: 7½ druids for the little Stonehenge in the park!