Tag Archives for stonehenge replica

Kerbhenge

kerbhengephoto by Tom Ryan, aka mint imperial, with permission

Somewhere in Britain, after removing decorative standing stones (!) and doing other work in his garden, Tom Ryan decided to build some trilithons with the debris. You see the result above.

What we like most about this photo is the angle. He manages to make these concrete chunks look like august and ancient stones. Impressive.

We won’t go on and on about this one. A nice whim-of-the-moment garden replica, which he tells us is dismantled already. Score: 6 druids. The season is young, gentle readers. Every garden needs a henge. Send us yours!

Personal Stonehenge: Mushroom variety

mushroom-stonehenge

photo from VivaTerra promotional website

“Calling all druids”, the advertisement says. But we’re thinking this Stonehenge replica is actually aimed at the garden gnome demographic. And what is the little one standing on? A tarot deck? The ad copy continues: “Arranged on desktop or shelf, they conjure up ancient rites while gently reminding us to trust in our own inner power as we explore the mysteries that lie ahead.” If they truly conjure up ancient rites, then they are a bargain at the sale price of $49, but please excuse us if we have our doubts . . .

But whatever. Far be it from us to belittle anything that helps someone get through the day feeling good about life. Anyway, we have heard from certain sources that the connection between Stonehenge and mushrooms is a longstanding one. For some people having this on their desk in the office might help them recall rites of their own!

Score: 5 druids. And that’s a stretch, to be honest. But it is made of stone, unlike many, and their calling it Personal Stonehenge tickles our funny bone (as does the price!). And it’s a great concept. Shouldn’t everyone have their own personal Stonehenge? No? Admit it–you know you want one!

Springhill Gardens, Replica in California

springhill-3photos by Dan Koellen, with permission

At Springhill Gardens near Lincoln, California, somewhere amid the 400-foot-long statuary garden, the Tequila Hill garden, full of agaves, the shade garden, a knot garden, a rose garden, a palm garden and–most intriguing to us–the pink-flamingo-and-gnome garden (!!), there stands a Stonehenge replica of sorts (the photographer says it is not made of stone but of something resembling stucco). It isn’t small but might be almost lost in this huge  garden of many parts. The garden is owned by John Poswall, a Brit (mystery solved!) and his wife Peg.

springhill-2It’s an odd-looking one, we have to say, reminding us a bit of the post-henge at Rainwater Observatory in French Camp, Mississippi (seen with hemispherical addition in photo).  We don’t know if this replica is of stone. It must have taken some doing to vary the lengths of the uprights in order to keep the lintels level! To be honest, the resemblance to Stonehenge itself is a but tenuous, but the owners call it a Stonehenge replica and we’ve been in this business long enough to know that people always have their reasons. It certainly has a lovely setting!

Score: 6 druids. It’s trilithon-free, but we like the outlying stones  and we’re sentimental about beautiful landscape settings. Landscape seems to have been important to the builders of the original.

If we owned it, we might look into training some ducks to walk in a circle, just to stun visitors approaching on a tour!

Clay Stonehenges, North Olmstead, Ohio

stonehenge02p

photos from promotional website for Hawkes Nest in Affalon

Found someone in Ohio who is making clay Stonehenge replicas, either as it was when complete or as it is now. stonehenge01pThey offer them at a modest price. Each is about 8 inches across.

We wonder how many they’ve sold. This sort of thing is dangerous. Before you know it, these seemingly insignificant items could infect the minds of Ohioans and send them into a henge-building frenzy! It’s especially risky in Ohio, where the land has already generated some henge-like structures.

These little models are surprisingly accurate. We see bluestones, trilithons, including the inner horseshoe. We see the so called altar stone. It does look a little claymation, but not bad! Score: 7 druids for the N. Olmstead replicas.

Okay, we know we said we were quitting, but there are still replicas out there to post, so you can expect it once in a while!

Fairy Stonehenge, another garden variation

stonehengemnbphotographysm

photo by Merissa Barcomb, with permission [as with all pictures here, do not use without getting your own permissions!]

Down at the foot of the garden/ Hidden from everyone’s view/ There do the elves and the fairies/ Dance amidst blossoms and dew./ There, when the dusk has just fallen,/ Spells o’er the stones do they weave/ Until a small Stonehenge they’ve fashioned/ To loom in the glimmering eve.

Or some such. You know the drill. This is actually a charming little garden henge. As with so many, it is just a set of trilithons, which takes its score down a bit, but it certainly has ambience and possibly a gauze over the camera lens.

Score: 6 druids or 7 fairies.  A nice post for the spring season!

On another note, we regret to say that Clonehenge may be winding down. Of course we will continue to post new henges that are sent to us or that we stumble upon, but the long hours of internet searching are no longer paying off. Many requests for photo permissions are still out there and if they do come in, we will post them. Also, if you’ve sent us one and we somehow forgot to post it, please get in touch!

While our days of regular posting appear to be over, roughly 5 months after we began, we are still here, so do email or comment if you have any communication for us. See you around the web!

Double Action Stonehenge: Emotiv Game Control Demo

A different kind of post today. What better than a 5000-year-old monument, or at least a not very good likeness of it, to demonstrate a state of the art gaming interface? Watch as this young man moves the stones into a circle!

If, as some say, our life is not real but virtual, maybe the druids used this method to raise the original on Salisbury Plain, even though they wouldn’t reach England for at least another thousand years. There, people–you saw it here: Ancient mystery solved on Clonehenge!

Cakehenge, Done Right!

cakehenge_by_ren_sama

cakehenge and photo by ~Ren-sama, with permission

There are cakehenges and then there are cakehenges. We have seen a few, but this one takes . . . never mind. You know what we mean. In most cases, as with the cupcake henge we posted not long ago, there’s a cake base with the replica on top made of candy or lady fingers or something. But ~Ren-Sama actually baked the cake stones separately and then assembled and iced them. The deviantART page says, “Five days of baking, five hours of construction.This turned out better than my wildest dreams.”

It certainly gets the Clonehenge seal of approval! That’s a lot of work to go to, and we see inner trilithons, fallen stones, possibly the right number of lintels . . . We have thought for a while that a clever bread baker could bake separate stones and make a very good replica, and this is the closest we’ve seen to that.

Score: 6½ druids! Bravo, ~Ren-sama! More, please!

Raven Hill Discovery Center Stonehenge, Michigan

ancient-world

photo from Cheri at the Raven Hill Discovery Center, used with permission
(Stonehenge replica on the left and moai on the far right.)

“At present our Stonehenge replica contains just the ‘bluestones’ of Stonehenge,”  a note from Raven Hill tells us. Although it may look like a simple stone circle, great care has gone into stone placement, and the heel stone, altar stone and inner horseshoe are all represented.

It is part of the 30-acre Ancient World section of RHDC, which includes this Stonehenge, a Mayan ball court, an obelisk, a house foundation as from Skara Brae, and other things including–but of course!–a moai, or Easter Island head.

Now normally we lightly mock the moai/Stonehenge combination, using the penguin/polar bear analogy used here before, but we will cut Raven Hill some slack. We know it isn’t easy to attract the attention of the young. You might say Stonehenge and the moai are the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie of stone monuments. If you’re trying to reach kids, what could be better than putting both on the cover of your magazine, so to speak?* And including Skara Brae is a point in their favour!

Score: 5½ druids for the care and knowledge that went into this replica, despite no trilithons or ditch and bank. Raven Hill looks like an excellent place for a family day or several family days a year. See the comments for more info on this interesting and informative place!

*This does not let other Stonehenge/moai combiners off the hook. Sorry!

Stonehenge in the Water, Cumbria

water-stonehenge

photo by skittzitilby, with permission

We’ve said before that there are many Stonehenges made of small stones out there, and we just want to post a few of the best. We find this one charming, not only for its delicate form and the photo’s deep colours. It  has a story.

Skittzitilby says, “it was made for me by my fella when he came up from the Bristol area after living 30+years of his life down there—-it was his romantic present to me showing me he loves it so much up here in Cumbria with me that he made me my own.” It looks like Skittzitilby has a pretty nice set of trilithons!

We can’t help but think this is a great precedent–showing one’s love by building a Stonehenge replica for the beloved. Maybe it will catch on! A man could try to charm a woman (or vice versa, or men charm men or women charm women–we are an equal opportunity blog!) by building an especially elaborate or meticulously correct model, depending on the other’s preferences. “What kind of Stonehenge did he (or she) build you?” people would ask one another. Or couples could build them together making distinctive replicas that would demonstrate by the ways they were unique, the personality of the couple!

Many possibilities! Score for the Stonehenge of Love, 6½ druids. More love and more replicas, people. But if it has to be just one, then, okay: make more love!

Sponge Sculpture Stonehenge

untitled

piece of  the HIT Entertainment web page on Sponge Sculptures

Found this bit and had to pass it on. Click on the link above or the picture to see full instructions on how to do sponge sculptures. We agree with them: if you’re learning sculpture, why wouldn’t it be Stonehenge or and Easter Island head you started out with? Or preferably both!

It’s a nice little model they have there. We would give it 6 druids  at first glance. After all, doesn’t everyone want a Spongehenge?! If you decide to make one, please keep us in mind! Hint: how about rainbow colours?