Tag Archives for guerilla henging

Joe McNamara Henge, Achill, Ireland–Guerilla Henging Taken Up a Notch!

photo from the Mayo News

Over the weekend, guerrilla henging was taken up a notch–actually, many notches!– as the construction above was put up in very short order. We will do a proper post another day, but for now we quote the article:

“A massive Stonehenge-esque structure has appeared on an Achill hilltop over the weekend. The man behind the clandestine project, the purpose of which remains unclear, is Achill native Joe McNamara, also known as ‘The Anglo Avenger’. The structure – dubbed Achill-henge – was built without planning permission. Towering nearly 15 feet from its base, it is 30 metres in diameter and has a circumference of close to 100 metres. Over 30 articulated trucks arrived in Pollagh on Friday from Galway carrying pre-cast concrete, and work began in mid-morning…

Reportedly over six months in planning, the enormous circular structure, which is located on commonage land above Pollagh, was erected at great speed but with a high level of precision. A group of men, with McNamara in charge, worked long hours over the weekend on its construction. The projected cost of its manufacture and installation is believed to be in excess of €1 million.

It is believed that the sun will rise and shine through the gaps between the ‘stones’ to light up a centre-piece on the site – a centre-piece yet to be built or revealed. What can be seen in the centre is a semi-circular outline for some sort of structure, but what shape or form that will take is unclear. It is believed that it won’t form part of the current development at Achill-henge but may be installed later.”

Fascinating! We eagerly await further developments. And, Mr. McNamara, we would not object to an exclusive Clonehenge interview. How often does henging meet the law? Any guerilla henger is a friend of ours! Henging–is it a new way to Occupy?

Our thanks to Barry Teague and Pete Glastonbury for alerting us to this news. If it is allowed to remain there, this will, of course, be added to our list of large permanent replicas, our first in Ireland.

Until next time, friends, happy henging!

The Guerilla Henging Craze (and the Land of the Frozen Maple Leaf )

photo from this article

Happy solstice to our reader(s)!

Listen. We need to have a talk about, yes, guerilla henging. Everybody’s used to guerilla theatre and, more recently, guerilla crochet. But for years a hidden epidemic of Stonehenge building or henging has been going on without fanfare and without triggering any alarm in the unsuspecting public. Wake up, people!

It took this throw-away article on street art involving city-abandoned planters in (not surprisingly) Toronto (Ontario again!) to stir our thinking. It involves only one guerilla henge, but we know this is just the tip of the iceberg! [Note to Canadians–we used that as a common figure of speech. It is not, we repeat, NOT a cheap Canada/snow and ice joke.] This is not just a few flaky hengers, drifting along at glacial speeds, but a blizzard of henge creation that is crystallising now and is unlikely to melt at any time in the foreseeable future. *wink wink* [blah, blah, blah, Mounties, white bears, ice floes…]

Anyway, after a lengthy hiatus, we have been doing a little searching around the internet for new henges and the results are startling. Everyone is building Stonehenge replicas! We don’t mean stone circles, as we have explained before. That is a completely different category of creation. We’re talking about structures with lintels, meant to mimic Stonehenge itself. They are appearing in unprecedented numbers, from pre-made kits and models to instructions for junior hengers, to the usual alcohol-inspired henges and foodhenges, plus the mysterious henges that appear on lawns and in public places like mushrooms springing into existence overnight.

What is going on with people? The human race has gone into a frenzy of Stonehenge reproduction–those little worms that entered their minds upon seeing pictures of Stonehenge, or the real thing, taking over their wills as if they were wombs, and forcing them to give birth to Stonehenge’s children! There should be a task force on this or something.

But for now there is only Clonehenge. We are the voice crying in the wilderness, warning everyone of the danger of Stonehenge replicas eventually taking over every vacant square inch on the earth’s surface. Alas! We cry out but no one hears us. Our valient warnings fall on deaf ears. Et cetera, et cetera.

What we’re actually saying here, for those who are incapable of reading subtext, is–Day-um, ma peeps, git your asses out there and put henges in all the oddest and most surprising places. This is our time! Flash mobs are going out and guerilla henging is IN! Clonehenge wants YOU.

So once again we wish you happy henging! But please, some of you, be careful on the ice! You know who you are, eh?

P.S.: We forgot that we meant to use the word frightening in this post. Feel free to insert it where you will.