Tag Archives for stonehenge replica

Beach Stonehenge: Welsh replica

penarth-henge

photo and henge work by mord and friend Joseph

Beaches are places where stones come together with people who have free time, so there are plenty of photos of henges made from beach stones. We’ve been waiting for some time, though, to find one as nice as this one. In most of the ones we’ve seen, inappropriate stone shapes blunt the impact of the henge structures.  In this case, however, mord must have had a picture in his head of a basic Stonehenge stone shape and searched for stones to match. Even the stone colours are close. Nicely done!

Of course, the circle is made entirely of trilithons with no inner horseshoe or rings, but compared to any other beach henge this one rules! The next best may be this picture from Lake Baikal,because it’s nice to be able to see  a henger in action.

The photo is nice here, too, with the pier echoing the henge structure and with shadows to suggest its sundial capabilities.  Score for this graceful Penarth Henge: 6 druids. And mord promises another when the weather gets better!

Back to Burning Man: Dead-computer-tower henge

computer-towers

photo by dratomic2012, with permission (free electronica music at link)

What is it with Burning Man? It seems that the link between the ancient or third-world shamanic mystique and modern cybertechnology, which  many instinctively feel, rises to the surface there (much as it does in some of the henge works of Simon Burrow).  Here we see an installation from the 2006 gathering–a Stonehenge replica made of dead CPUs (central processing units) or computer towers.

Lighting creates much of the drama here, with the red implying activity inside while cool green, which also lights the seared earth, illuminating the inactive. It gives the feeling of a structure in which the parts consult with one another, burning with a common fire.

Score: 6½ druids for this striking vision created from everyday junk that once was wondrous technology and now is coaxed into an ancient form of great psychological power. Modern life is complex!

Circle of Life, Connecticut’s Stonehenge

circle-of-life-sean-kernan

photo by Sean Kernan, reprinted from the NY Times.

Here’s one of the more famous Stonehenge replicas, named The Circle of Life. It even has its own website and a description of its creation process by the man hired to oversee the process.  Conceived by and on the property of Jonathan Rothberg, who hired Darrell Petit to get it done, it is made up of 700 tons of Blue Pearl Fjord granite from Norway and stands in Sachem Head, Connecticut.

The story is that the idea for this Stonehenge replica was born when plans for an astronomical observatory were rejected by the local zoning board. They say this wasn’t revenge exactly . . . *grin* Anyway, it was built very carefully, astronomically correct (costing, of course, a bundle of $$!), and ultimately the fascination with the project itself overtook the  original impulse.

It’s a classic and leaves us in awe, as much at what money and modern technology make possible as of the structure itself. Score: 7½ druids for this one, maybe 8, although there is no inner ring, no great trilithons, no ditch and bank. What really inspires awe in us is the undying impulse to rebuild Stonehenge and the myriad ways it is manifested by the hands of men!

Peephenge–and PeepHenge

peephenge

photo and henge by deadeyebart a.k.a. Brett, with permission

When we started, we didn’t think there were enough Stonehenge replicas to last us more than a month, certainly not to go on until 2009. But here we are, well into January, with new henges cropping up all the time. People are wackier than we thought! Which is a good thing. Mostly.

But few are wackier than our friend the Mad Henger, deadeyebart. This peephenge is part of his henging oeuvre. We say “this peephenge” because, well, ta-da! [link] (Please to take note of what’s going on in the last picture on that page. Shocking! And they remembered the bluestones!) Mr. bart is not alone in his peephenginess. Those people at Lord of the Peeps are giving him a run for his marshmallow.

Still, there’s something about the simple structure above, with the bright colours on black. These peeps have an ancient weathered look, as if they have been marinating in light and time for millennia until now they are hiding the secrets of the ages. Yet they would probably still get hot and gooey after a few seconds in the microwave. What a treat!

All peeps are made at a factory a few miles from Clonehenge Headquarters (more peep truthiness here), but we don’t let that bias our sombre decisions. Score: 6 druids for being wacky and for reminding us of spring!

Bluestone Henge: Transported magically from Wales to you!

bluestone-henge

photo and henge by the good people at Lost Stones, with permission

We had a post on the controversies concerning  bluestones at Stonehenge almost written when the electric went out and Blam, it was gone. We’ll take that as an omen and cut to the chase!

Stonehenge’s bluestones are small with no lintels, forming an inner circle and an inner horseshoe. They were brought by glaciers or Merlin or winter sleds or water and log rollers from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the Salisbury Plain, over 400 km (250 miles). Why? Heh. We know but we’re not telling! 😉 Maybe they were thought magical, or healing. Maybe it was just how when cut they show star-like white spots as you see above.

No builders we know of, even those who claim they have the “most exact replica in the world!” (I know, right? And yet there are several.), bothered to match the stone types used at Stonehenge. This goes part way. These real bluestones come from the legal source in the Preseli Hills that supplies Lost Stones. This picture isn’t on that site, but ask. And check out their trilithons, baby!

We have plenty more to say here, but it’s time to go. Scoring: 6½ druids for taking geology into account. We like it!

*By the way, a friendly wave and hello to any readers blown our way by search-engine winds while navigating for more about the newly dicovered bluestone circle near Stonehenge. We invite you to have a look around the blog. We’ve posted photos or links to well over 200 Stonehenge replicas and there are more to come. We suggest a look at our interview and the list of Large Permanent Replicas for a start!

Kennewick Man–Washington State Strikes Again

543-at-stonehengereplica-hot-zone

photo by Bethany Lee, reposted from Atomictown.com / Tri-City Herald

We’ve always  been amused by things that show penguins and polar bears together. They’re from opposite ends of the world, right? How would they be together? Turns out there’s a similar trend with Stonehenge replicas: people will sometimes add, not a model of Silbury Hill or a barrow or a stone-lined avenue such as you might find near Stonehenge in Wiltshire but–moai such as you might find halfway around the world on Easter Island.

What’s that about? We can think of three examples* including this one. Unlike Washington’s Maryhill Stonehenge, today’s replica is small and privately owned, built by Ed Mays of Kennewick, Washington to replace the old rose garden in front of his home. Quoting from the article: “After forming some pillar bases for the replica, Mays estimates he went through about 75 sacks of cement, which he mixed all on his own. . . . In addition to the circular henge, he placed a giant rock with a carved out face in the center to portray another large rock design, Easter Island.”

Far be it from us to do anything but encourage henge building as a retirement activity! If we get a laugh out of this garden megalith complex (complete with a spotlight on the ersatz moai!), it is meant in the same good humour displayed by Mr. Mays’ admirable creation. Score: 5 druids for a game try by this solo pensioner!

* Stonehenge II in Texas and Harry Rossett’s Stonehenge come to mind.

Shunt Henge, or Haha! Eat this, Smithsonian Channel!

shunt-henge

Photo by linux-works, with permission

A henge made mostly of jumper shunts–who would guess they would make such a striking picture? linux-works, the builder and photographer, did an outstanding job catching a clean image of this excellent henge.

When Smithsonian was cruising Flickr looking for images for their henge video, they saw the image here, and approached the artist who declined to release it for commercial TV without being paid. (Tch, tch, sucks to be them! *Clonehenge shakes head and grins*)  We, however, being about as uncommercial as one can get, was given linux-works’ generous okey-dokey and here is shunt henge for you to see. Thank you, sir!

We’re told there is a back story, too, and we’ll add it if we get it, but for now we will score without. As you may have noticed, we kind of equate electronics with druidry, an advantage for this one. We award 6½ druids to this minimalist henge, which seems almost to hang in mid-air.

Paju City Stonehenge: England in South Korea!

korean-stonehenge1

Photo by Sonja Jean, with permission

If English speaking is vital for success in South Korea, how can less affluent children get an experience of immersion? One way is to create an English village in Korea. And what is more likely to be part of an English village than–you guessed it–Stonehenge?!

It’s a nice big one, too, possibly bigger than the original, although the pictures hint that it is not complete. There are few sites about it in English. Here is a report about the village from a radio show in the States.

Some replicas demonstrate astronomy or represent ancient observatories, some are to show creativity with stone, others to be cool, some make a political point or serve as a monument to the dead, plus some we suspect are, well, compensation, but this was just built to make it seem like England. So many reasons to build a Stonehenge replica!

How to give druids when we can’t get a look at the whole thing? We’ll say 7 druids for size and whimsy (whose idea was it, we wonder?) and for being so far from its ancient home. A side note: there are real ancient megaliths near Paju City as well.

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Stonehenge in Poland

poland-stonehenge

photo from the Kurier newspaper

We don’t know much about this one, but we suspect there are hidden Stonehenge replicas like this scattered about in surprising places around the world. People get the bug or the thought, “I could build a Stonehenge in my garden!” We aren’t able to find them all, but let this stand for all the ones we’ve missed. We know there are hengers out there building or planning as we type this!

Here is all we can glean about where this henge is: “It is hard to find, hidden in the stands Krzakach, in one of podzdzieszowickich gardens.” We can’t help you with the pronunciation or meaning of that nice long word there. It gives us the strange feeling that the whole thing was written by WOL.

Clonehenge may go on hiatus for the weekend, so best wishes to all. Druids for this one, you ask? Oh, let’s say piec or szesc. These things need to be encouraged!