Tag Archives for @salisbury_matt

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO THE CLONEHENGE BLOG!!!

Cupcakehenges by Simon Burrow and Debora Oswald

Cupcakehenges by Simon Burrow and Debora Oswald

The day is here! A happy 5th birthday to us!

It’s astounding that this blog is still here and active after all these years. We’re not sure if the proliferation of Stonehenge replicas around the world is a sign of the creativity and spirit of humankind, or a sign of the decadent state of human society, but whichever it is, we celebrate that today!! From the academic and historical Stonehenge models to the spontaneous alcohol-inspired cheesehenges to the work-and-expense-intensive large permanent replicas, we are proud to be the chroniclers of this peculiar aspect of our species’ activities and efforts.

Carrothenge by Rian Edwards

Carrothenge by Rian Edwards

One thing for certain—Clonehenge would have been abandoned years ago were it not for its many friends and supporters, in particular people like Simon Burrow, Pete Glastonbury, Matt Penny, Bob Bradlee, and many more, who have alerted us to new henges, and given us encouragement when we were ready to quit or even delete the blog forever!

The pictures you see above are edible Stonehenge replicas made to celebrate this most glorious of days and the persistence of the Clonehenge blog through five revolutions of our planet around the sun. How wonderful that these people would use their own time to celebrate us in this way. Thanks to Simon Burrow, Debora Oswald, and Rian Edwards for these gifts! Our gratitude also to those friends, like Lynn Myra McElroy, who wished us a happy 5th birthday!

There are many many Stonehenge replicas yet to be blogged, and we solemnly promise that we will continue to not keep up.

Finally, all glory to the ancient original builders of Stonehenge, without whom this blog would probably be about pyramids or Easter Island heads! It just wouldn’t be as fun, and we would miss all of our favourite Wiltshire people! Which reminds us, are there any replicas of the new Stonehenge Visitor Centre out there? We would consider posting one.

We may add to this post as the day goes on, so we’ll end it for now. Please keep your eyes open for more Stonehenge replicas. We know they’re out there. And until next time, of course, happy henging!

(And here is our very first post, from five years ago today. With thanks to Mr. Jonas M. Wisser!)

H is For Henge: The Salisbury Hospital Trilithon

photo by Matt Penny, aka @Salisbury_Matt (but heartlessly cropped and altered by evil Clonehenge elves)

When we receive an email with the subject line, “Does this count?” it appeals to our considerable megalomaniacal tendencies. That is correct, minions! It is completely up to us. We alone decide what is henge-sufficient and what is not. Ha. And this time friend of the blog Mr. Matt Penny, knowing our weakness for flattery, played on it in order to be given the prestigious name of Discoverer of a Large Permanent Replica. Well  done, sir!

What and where is it, you ask? Mr. Penny (yes, alert reader, that same young Mr. Penny we have mentioned before as the creator and sovereign of the website Salisbury and Stonehenge.net) says it is “a tri-lithon style ‘H’ which stands at the entrance to Salisbury District Hospital (usually known as Odstock)”  He goes on to say, “My feeling is that this is at least possibly a clonehenge rather than a simple stone ‘H‘ because of its elevation on a vaguely tumulus or tor shaped mound, and because of it’s relative proximity to the stones themselves (or clonehenge v0.1, as I’m starting to think of them).”

Although we prefer to think of ourselves as the only truly clever people,  we grudgingly admit that it was perceptive of Mr. Penny to look at this sculpture and realise that it is indeed a reference to that great grey heap of stones out on Salisbury plain. Proof that his hunch was correct can be seen on the sculptor’s website where it tells us the piece was “Commissioned by Salisbury Health Authority : H FOR HOSPITAL, a 6 tonne trilithon of Chilmark stone to mark the entrance to a new hospital. Click HERE to view.” [H IS FOR HOSPITAL–nice title but I think all of us here know what H is actually for!]

That word trilithon is the clincher. Put the word trilithon into Google along with the name Salisbury and one topic dominates the results–Stonehenge. Therefore this stone H fits solidly into the category of Stonehenge sculptures. In an odd twist, the notch method of inserting the third stone actually makes the sculpture more like the famous Tongan stone trilithon than like any of the trilithons at Stonehenge. But we are not ones to nit-pick (Much. Heh.).

More from Salisbury Matt, because he says it so well (or is it because we’re too lazy to write it ourselves? Surely not.): “The other quite nice aspect is that it’s made of Chilmark stone, which I *think* is the the stone that was used to build the Cathedral (I’ve never really been much into ley-lines etc, but Salisbury Cathedral and Stonehenge kind of go together – somebody like Dr Johnson said something like they are the ‘first essay and the last perfection of architecture’).”

Wikipedia notes that Chilmark stone appears to have been used to pack around the base of at least one of the uprights at Stonehenge. This sculpture certainly ties in nicely. Curiously, when a hospital near to Clonehenge headquarters, far from Wilts, tried to call a huge H on their premises a sculpture, authorities judged it to be a commercial sign, denying them privileges or tax breaks. Maybe they should have made it of crude stone and called it a Stonehenge replica. Psh! And people say that our topic has no practical applications!

As for a score, we’re charmed by the connection of the Wiltshire Chilmark stone, the placement of it on a mound, and even the connection to healing, rumoured to be one of the functions of Stonehenge itself. We give it 5½ druids, not a bad score for a mere trilithon. And we give to Matt Penny that most coveted of titles–official Clonehenge Finder of a large permanent replica. Please, Monsieur Penny , we don’t want to hear about all the free drinks and action (wink, wink) you get as a result. Meanwhile don’t forget, other readers, if you want that kind of glory, make or find a Stonehenge replica and send us pictures! Your life will change in ways you can only imagine!

And to everyone, happy henging!

Simple and Easy Do-It-Yourself Stone Henge Instructable!

photos by McNopants13 on Instructables.com

Pardon us, but we must begin with a lengthy quotation:

“I had a stage show to put on with some of my students and thought it might look cool to see them carry on and build stonehenge during a certain scene so away i set off to build the elusive stone henge …. but GASP! I don’t have the money nor the resources for giant stone slabs … “fear not handsome craftsman” a voice said to me in my head… I will make a giant paper mache version of the sotnes and so I set off once again with a plan. and alot of boxes here are some photos from the build and some of the final stones on stage. ENJOY!”

Above you see some of the papier mache versions of the aforementioned sotnes,as they are so delightfully misspelled. The accompanying pictures show a process of taking smaller boxes, attaching them to make long rectangles, covering them with papier mache and painting them grey. And then, of course, forming trilithons with them.

Curiously, despite the replacement of the continuous circle with simple trilithons and the completely un-Stonehenge-like shapes of the stones, the creator/instructor remembered to add bluestones of a sort, a nice touch which might gain them a much-needed druid for their score. Or we should say–his score, the clever hengineer being Monsieur McNopants13. Or Madame McNopants13, as the case may be. If it is a female McNopants, of course, we would want to know, as it’s the sort of thing we would prefer to lead off the post with so as to acquire the trashier reputation we feel we need in order to draw more readers.

As you can see above, even as far as this creation is from resembling Stonehenge itself, it still has an atmospheric quality when used as a stage prop and lit well. And let it never be said that most henge-o-philes are not generally well-lit. Har. And speaking of heavy drinking, for no reason at all we are reminded to thank Matt Penny aka @salisbury_matt, the High Lord and Grand Poobah of Salisbury and Stonehenge.net, for sending us the link to this “instructable”.

As for score, it’s like this–the do-it-yourself aspect and the bluestones are on the plus side. The strange proportions and the fact of the trilithons without a circle are on the other side. We award this one 6 druids! Quite high, really, as, let’s face it, those who created it probably were, too! We want to encourage this kind of thing, after all. More henges, less guns; more papier mache, less greed. That’s what the world needs! More or less. And until next time, friends, happy henging!

Henge-Podge: Odds and Ends That Have Come Across Our Desk, Part Two

from designboom

First on this second edition of Henge Podge is not a Stonehenge replica but a clever henge-related item: Ikea-like instructions for the construction of Stonehenge. We couldn’t possibly say anything as clever as this is, so we’ll just post a second picture, advise you to click on the link because there is more to it, and move on. Yes, that is a druid you see there.

Next bit is something we’re keeping an eye on: a tentative plan for a Stonehenge replica, this time in Harwich. Reading the article here we are uncertain how much like Stonehenge this so-called “version of Stonehenge” will be. They have the stones, granite from a dismantled railroad bridge, and not much else so far. It remains to be seen if it happens at all and if it does, whether they bother to put on the all-important lintels. Maybe we should send them the Ikea instructions!

photo from a nut in a nutshell

And finally we present the only snowhenge we saw this winter, despite all of the snow that fell. We believe this was sent to us by the absolutely marvelous Matt Penny aka @salisbury_matt , sole proprietor and strong proponent of  Salisbury and Stonehenge.net. Thank you, sir. He and Señor Glastonbury are duking it out for top Friend of the Blog status, which entitles one to every cent of the money we have made up until now by doing the Clonehenge blog. The suspense is killing!

Meanwhile we can’t remember who sent us the other two items. Thank you, whoever you are. Comment on this post with the information and we’ll add it.

In the old days we might have done a whole post on the snowhenge, but that url blasted across it is too much, so this is what you get. We do, however, have a couple more  items recently submitted. A henge documenter’s work is never done! We’ll be back when we can see our way clear to doing something this constructive again.

Who knows when that will be, but until then, everybody, happy henging!