Tag Archives for stonehenge replica

Pinball Henge, North London

Pinball henge

photo by Feòrag NicBhrìde, with permission

Oh, what fun–a bit of guerilla henging with a tantalising hint of a celebrity connection! This is great stuff.

Feòrag, our sender-in, says, “I spotted this interesting construction on the way to the Wenlock Arms the other day. It’s located in a yard at the junction of Wenlock Road and Micawber Street in Hoxton, North London.  Google Maps shows the yard still in use and full of trucks. There are no vehicles in the Street View, but none of the graffiti either, so I think the yard has only fallen out of use recently.” [ Note to U.S. readers: The British use of the word yard has a much more industrial/business-related connotation than it does in the States.]

It is just two trilithons of pinball machines, but its appearance in an abandoned freight yard is intriguing. And our alert hengefinder continues: “Located on the wall is a piece of graffiti featuring a police officer with a ghetto blaster, which looks suspiciously like a Banksy to me – he’s known to be active in the area – though much of the area is tagged ‘RESO’.”

See that bit of wall art at the right of the picture? It does have that Banksy look, doesn’t it? Then cast your mind back to Glastonbury several years ago and Banksy’s masterful Stonehenge replica constructed of of port-a-loos. Could it be that he revisited that concept with this group of  machines? If so, we don’t doubt it has deep inner meaning. Too bad we aren’t deep. We must leave such intellectual discernment to our readers!

As happened with Doorhenge, the guerilla art aspect increases the druid score. We think this is an exciting thing to have pop up among the city streets. May the trend continue. 7 druids, 7½ if it really is Banksy’s! And extra thanks to Feòrag, for taking the time to stop although she was headed for the Wenlock Arms. Now that’s what we call dedication!

Let’s Call It Cakehenge

giraffe cakehenge

photos and hengery by Bill Bevan, with permission

Oh, why don’t people take ancient monuments seriously?! The way we do. Heh. Well, here is a stuffed giraffe examining a Stonehenge replica (of the just-a-few-trilithons variety) that was made of lemon slice, carrot cake, and chocolate brownies, set on a golden plate, which is set on . . . is that a faded beach towel?

Our studied analysis: While he projects a mood of play, the henger here has a serious agenda, suggesting that the toppled stones at Stonehenge were toppled by the curiosity of ancient northern woolly giraffes that lived in the times of the mammoths. This discovery pushes the age of the building of Stonehenge back to the ice ages. The alternative at which he barely hints is that the stones were actually erected by ancient sentient giraffes, a branch of the family which has since gone extinct!

Exciting stuff. Almost too controversial for our humble blog, which is simply a bit of light entertainment. But wait, there’s more.

lionGiant crosses between lions and daisies also appear to figure into the theory! This is way over our heads. Could Stonehenge have been a corral for megafauna? And what about the cake? He gives some cryptic explanation here. Warning: one or two of the close-ups of trilithons seem barely decent!

Score for this henge: 6 druids. Why six, you say? Sometimes things are just so bad that they’re good. And we think he knows it. Quote: “My 14 week old daughter thought Spongehenge was pretty funny, though that might have been wind!”

Bill Bevan’s impressive photos of the real Stonehenge can be seen here, and are worth a look. Click on the word Gallery at the top for more amazing photos from around the world.

Scouser Solstice Sconehenge

1245316624-Sconephoto from article in Click Liverpool

We bring you this youthful venture in the series-of-trilithons tradition, our second sconehenge (see the first here).  We can’t determine from the article if the young henger, Mathew Growcoot, baked these scones or bought them, not that it matters a great deal. He’s an artist, not a baker.

It looks very much as if he originally set up a circle of trilithons and then two trilithons fell over or were pushed. Recognition of the fallen stones is good. On the other hand, too bad the scones were anchored with toothpicks. We would have awarded an extra druid if it had been by mortise-and-tenon in the manner of the original.

But, alas, although we appreciate the lad’s intention and enterprise, it is difficult to award a high score for a circle of trilithons. This is what we might expect from an American student who never looked twice at a Stonehenge photo, not from a Liverpudlian who must surely have learned a bit about Stonehenge somewhere along the line!

Still, we must encourage youthful henging. (And we do appreciate how, in this picture, he is subtly using his head to represent the rising of the sun!) Score: 5½ druids. And negative druids for the writer and his “half-baked” and “piece of cake” puns. Come on, man–some of us eat while we read!

Miniature Stonehenge Garden

stonhenphoto from Two Green Thumbs website, with permission

Oh, Seattle, how we love you! From Washington State once again we bring you Stonehenge, this time in a tiny form. It is advertised by Two Thumbs Miniature Garden Center (Grow Your Own World). Their company policy: “If it’s not fun and cute,we don’t want anything to do with it!” And what’s more fun and cute than Stonehenge?

Janit from Two Green Thumbs tells us she used the mini-Stonehenge from Running Press, drilling and staking the pieces so they would stay in place. She adds that she has “since told countless other mini gardeners how to make their own. I suspect there are dozens in and around the States!” We don’t doubt it. We laud her for helping would-be hengers to realise their aspirations! And it is kind of cute, isn’t it, although we feel an urge to go in and add a bunch of fallen stones. You could always buy a second kit and fill in a little.

Leave it to the Stonehenge State to make it possible to put a henge in every pot! Score for this simple but charming take on the replica: 7½ druids, despite the lack of bluestones. Hurry–you still have time to set one up for solstice!

Celtic Cabinet Stonehenge, Wiltshire Heritage Museum

BrittonCabinet stonehenge 2photos by Pete Glastonbury, with permission

The plaque on this cabinet in the Wiltshire Heritage Museum reads:

“The Britton ‘Celtic’ Cabinet [Clonehenge thanks whoever is responsible for those single quotation marks!] The cabinet was originally made in about 1824 for G Watson Taylor, MP for Erlestoke. It is made in the shape of one of the trilithons at Stonhenge [sic], with pollarded elm and birds eye maple veneer, and contains inset watercolours by contemporary artists including Cotman. By 1832 it had been acquired by the historian John Britton (1771-1857) and stood in his library, where it housed manuscripts and drawings. It was bought by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in 1853.”

BrittonCabinet chThe replica at the top of this post, seen in glass on top of the cabinet, is one of the cork models by Henry Browne, whom we have mentioned before. On the left side of the ‘trilithon’ you can see a charming watercolour of an aerial view of Stonehenge. A similar picture of Avebury is on the right. The other painted panels are hard to make out, but the bottom right is Stonehenge again. Others seem to represent a concession that Wiltshire doesn’t own the megalith franchise.

This is an absolutely fabulous bit of megalithia, in our not-all-that-humble opinions. So much so that we are giving the Avebury model inside the cabinet a post of its own, to follow in a few days.

BrittonCabinet2 ch

Score: 8½ druids. It might have been 9 if it weren’t for that word Celtic in its name. Our thanks to Pete G. for bringing this amazing item to our attention!

Woodhenge on PBase

stubby hengephotos by James Van Dyke, with permission

It’s a few years old, but this firewood henge caught our fancy when we discovered it, so we’re bringing it to you.

woodhenge 2The commentary for the second photo reads: “As in stonehenge, the pillars and idols of Woodhenge form a circle. When added to the firepit circle, a pair of concentric circles emerges. I like to think of it as family and friends circling together.”

As you see, it’s not strictly trilithons or anything. Definitely an improvisation on the Stonehenge concept. The tepees of sticks were no doubt added to bring some eeriness to the site.

We can only give it 5 druids, but we like the surroundings and probably would have enjoyed being there. Just another example of how the Stonehenge concept is everywhere!

Self-Promoting Bookhenge

solving stonehenge

photo by akent, sent in by Sean Johnson

You know how when you get too many calls promoting a politician you like, you start to think you may not vote for him, or when there are too many annoying adverts for a product, you swear you’ll never buy it? Well, on sites related to Stonehenge lately, plugs for the book  Solving Stonehenge have become so frequent and insistent that we resolved to ignore them as much as possible.

Then someone (possibly related to the author) sent us this picture and we found ourselves in a bind. Do we ignore a perfectly good replica photo or do we post it and fall into being additionally annoying to people already wearied of hearing about this book? We came up with a brilliant solution:  post it and whinge about it. A good whinge now and then is therapeutic.

Don’t get us wrong–this could be a decent book for all we know. There are so many people who have come up with a brilliant theory for what Stonehenge was and did that one more doesn’t hurt anything. As a matter of fact here’s our theory: Stonehenge was built to generate as many completely bonkers theories as possible. Maybe we should write a book!

Score for this replica: 4½ druids (it’s just trilithons). Wow, we feel better! What else can we whinge about?

Therme Erding Stonehenge: Mandatory Nudity!

Therme+Erding+Stonehenge

photos from spa promotional materials

Outside Munich is the spa to end all spas, Therme Erding, parts of which have a Celtic Theme. And bowing to the ubiquitous misconception that Stonehenge was built by the Celts, the spa includes a Stonehenge replica! And, yes, our title may be gratuitously sensational (we are not above anything, however low!), but it is true. Nudity in the sauna areas, which are shared by both genders, is mandatory.

therme erdingBabelfish translations are all we have to work with in order to learn what we can about this replica. One says: “the Erdinger Stonehenge consists of 30 blocks of Italian volcanic rock, of which everyone is heavy about four meters highly and 17 tons.” Babelfish insists on translating something to do with spas as sow kidneys.  Examples: “Sow kidneys in the original Stonehenge reproduction, ease everything in the garden Eden” and “refreshing rain showers and a spring water-fed torrent, which in-loads sow kidneys to a style-genuine refreshment to that.” We’re guessing they’re not discussing pig entrails. Heh. Have we mentioned we ♥ Babelfish?! If one of our gentle readers knows German, perhaps they can help us out with the kidney thing. Here’s a link to one of the translated pages.

At any rate, what about a score? Do we give an extra druid for the suggestion of the skyclad tradition? 6 druids for the Therme Erding Stonehenge. This is our second Stonehenge near München, and our fourth in Germany. We detect megalith envy!

[See comments for explanations of the sow kidney conundrum by helpful readers.]

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War-Game Terrain Stonehenge

wargame2

photo from War-Game Terrain promotional website

We’ve featured virtual war games’ versions of Stonehenge, but what about table-top war games? You know there had to be some. Fantasy games all eventually come around to needing a Stonehenge, don’t they?

wargame1Wargame Terrain or War-Game Terrain–spelled a couple of ways–can supply you with your wargame Stonehenge needs. “Each terrain piece is carefully hand crafted from insulation and or beveled 1/8″ hardboard, foam, strengthened with filler, flocked with gravel, grass or sand and hand painted.”

This one includes one trilithon and one, well–quadlithon? But they’ll work with you. Each piece is custom-made.

Score: 5 druids for the wargame Stonehenge. But keep war well away from the real stones.