Stonehenge replicas and derivatives explained

This is a list of Stonehenge replicas and derivatives that seeks to collect all the non-ephemeral examples together. The fame of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge in England has led to many efforts to recreate it, using a variety of different materials, around the world. Some have been carefully built as astronomically aligned models whilst others have been examples of artistic expression or tourist attractions.

Astronomically aligned replicas

Australia and New Zealand

• The only astronomically aligned, full-scale, "exact" replica of (a pristine) Stonehenge in natural stone (granite) is Esperance Stonehenge at Esperance, Western Australia. It cost over A$250,000 to build. Some of the blocks weigh more than 50 tonnes.^[1]
• Stonehenge Aotearoa, in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand, is a modern adaptation aligned with the astronomy seen from the Antipodes. It was built by the Phoenix Astronomical Society from wood and sprayed concrete.^[2]
• A full-scale replica in sandstone was started in the rural township of Buckland in Tasmania in the first years of the 21st century, but was demolished by order of the municipal authorities. It did not have the necessary planning approval from the local council.

North America

• The Maryhill Stonehenge: A full-size concrete replica of Stonehenge, as it would have been originally built, saw construction commence and had its original dedication on 4 July 1918. Built in Maryhill, Washington by Sam Hill, it was the first monument in the United States to honour the dead of World War I, and specifically soldiers from Klickitat County, Washington who had died in the still on-going war. The altar stone is 3 degrees off the alignment of the sunrise on the Summer Solstice. The replica does not take into account the latitude difference between Stonehenge and Maryhill, throwing the alignments further off. Hill, a Quaker pacifist, was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site, and thus constructed the replica as a reminder that "humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war" The monument was originally located in the centre of Maryhill, which later burned down leaving only the Stonehenge replica. There was a second formal dedication of the monument upon its completion on 30 May 1929.^[3]
• There is a full-scale, limestone replica of Stonehenge on private property just northeast of Fortine, Montana, owned by inventor Jim Smith.
• A Stonehenge replica is located on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa, Ector County, US. About twenty stone blocks, similar in size, shape, and appearance to the ancient Stonehenge, were unveiled in the summer of 2004.
• Foamhenge is a full-size, astronomically aligned Stonehenge made out of foam in Virginia, US.^[4]
• Bamahenge is a full-size, astronomically-aligned fiberglass replica of Stonehenge located in Baldwin County, Alabama, US.^[5]
• Missouri S&T has a half-scale replica built from solid granite located on campus.^[6]

Other

• British Foamhenge, a full-size, correctly aligned replica made from carpet tubes and polystyrene, was constructed for a UK TV programme titled "Stonehenge Live", broadcast in June 2005. The positions of each stone were accurately plotted using RTK GPS, which has centimetric accuracy. The replica quickly became known as "Foamhenge". It was removed soon after filming, and the "stones" placed in storage.

Less accurate replicas

Europe

• Bavarian Strawhenge; a full-size replica, was assembled in Kemnath in Bavaria in 2003 from 350 bales of straw and used as a music venue.^[7]
• In the late 1970s, in Glasgow, an astronomically aligned stone circle was built in Sighthill Park.^{[8] [9] [10]}
• Tankhenge existed in the border zone of Berlin in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Wall. It was constructed from three ex-Soviet armoured personnel carriers.
• At the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, England, graffiti artist Banksy constructed a "Stonehenge" made from portable toilets.
• Achill-henge is a 2011 concrete structure on Achill Island, off the northwest coast of Ireland.
• In 2012, British artist Jeremy Deller created a life-size inflatable bouncy castle-style replica of Stonehenge titled 'Sacrilege' which first appeared in Greenwich Park, London and other parks in the capital; the interactive artwork has since toured nationally and internationally.^{[11] [12] [13]}
• Bladehenge is the name of a Charlotte Moreton sculpture located at Solstice Park, Amesbury, 2 miles from Stonehenge, England. The final piece of the "Solstice Park Sculptures", it is inspired by aeronautical forms of propellers and turbine, with three twisting steel monoliths designed to recall Stonehenge. It was installed in 2013.^[14]
• Steel Henge, which is in fact made using iron ingots, at Centenary Riverside Park, Rotherham, Yorkshire, England.^[15]

North America

• Carhenge was constructed from vintage American cars near Alliance, Nebraska by the artist Jim Reinders in 1987.^[16]
• The Georgia Guidestones were sometimes referred to as an "American Stonehenge".^{[17] [18]}
• Canadian Strawhenge is in Ontario.^[19]
• Phonehenge is made of old-fashioned British telephone booths and is located at Freestyle Music Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
• Phonehenge West was an unrelated folk art construction in Los Angeles County, California, eventually demolished by authorities for building code violations.
• Mudhenge was erected for the 1996 Burning Man Festival.^[20]
• Munfordville Stonehenge, built by a local stonemason in Kentucky and set up along compass lines.^[21]
• Twinkiehenge, another Burning Man replica, constructed in 2001 out of Twinkies.^[22]
• Stonehenge II in Texas is a concrete sculpture inspired by the original.
• The Clarke Memorial Fountain, also nicknamed Stonehenge, is a war memorial on the campus of the University of Notre Dame.
• Stroudhenge: East Stroudsburg University, in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, has a small replica located on its campus called "Stroudhenge".
• Mystical Horizons, located near Carbury, North Dakota, consists of six granite walls of varying heights that are intended to represent a 21st-century design. It functions as a working solar calendar. It was built in 2005.
• Fridgehenge: another modern take on Stonehenge once existed outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, constructed out of junked refrigerators, known as 'Fridgehenge'. The structure was created by the artist Adam Jonas Horowitz.^[23] It no longer exists: all fridges have been removed after a complaint, confirmed on 5 August 2008.
• Truckhenge, "an eclectic combination of farm, salvage & recycled art ..... consists of 6 antique trucks jutting out of the ground - reminiscent of England's Stonehenge", Topeka, Kansas^[24]

Other

• Stonehenge microstructure: in 2004, scientists from the National University of Singapore created the smallest 3D replica of Stonehenge. Measuring only 80 micrometres in diameter, the Stonehenge microstructure was created by a process called silicon micromachining which uses a high-energy proton beam writer to produce 3-D microshapes and structures of high structural accuracy on the surface of materials such as silicon.^[25]
• In 1995, Graeme Cairns of Hamilton, New Zealand, built a replica of Stonehenge out of 41 refrigerators at a farm in Gordonton.^[26]
• Hanazono Central Park (花園中央公園, south of Hanazono Rugby Stadium, 1 Chome-1-1 松原南 Higashiosaka, Osaka, Japan, has a Stonehenge type pedestrian park feature.

Other replicas

The rock band Black Sabbath had a Stonehenge stage set for the 1983–1984 Born Again tour that ended up being too large to fit in most venues. This was parodied in the film This is Spinal Tap, when the band orders a Stonehenge set but it arrives in miniature due to a confusion between feet and inches.

In 1984, US artist Richard Fleischner constructed an abstract Stonehenge-like series of granite blocks at the University of California, San Diego as part of the Stuart Collection called The La Jolla Project. It is affectionately known as Stonehenge by students and faculty.

In 2005, the archaeological television programme Time Team created a replica of a timber circle located near Woodhenge as part of the Stonehenge Riverside Project.

In February 2010, Peter Salisbury, founder of the Michigan Druids, created a 1/3 scale replica of Stonehenge, made of snow, at the MacKay Jaycees Family Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was named Snowhenge.^[27]

Muchołapka, a 10 metres tall dodecagonal concrete ring structure with a diameter of 30 metres, which was built during World War II near Ludwikowice Kłodzkie, Lower Silesia, Poland, is nicknamed "Hitler's Stonehenge". It was presumably the base of a cooling tower, but some people claim it was built for testing advanced aircraft.^{[28] [29]}

Comparable archaeological sites

A henge near Stonehenge containing concentric rings of postholes for standing timbers, discovered in 1922, was named Woodhenge by its excavators because of similarities with Stonehenge. The name woodhenge is also used for a series of timber circles found at the Native American site of Cahokia (Cahokia Woodhenge). The timber Seahenge in Norfolk was named as such by journalists writing about its discovery in 1998.

In November 2004, a circle of postholes 7m (23feet) in diameter was found in Russia and publicised as the Russian Stonehenge. Other prehistoric sites elsewhere, often also with proposed astronomical alignments, are often described by journalists as being that region's '"answer to Stonehenge".

In May 2006, reports emerged of an "Amazon Stonehenge" Calçoene, 390 kilometres from Macapá, the capital of Amapá state, near Brazil's border with French Guiana. It comprises 127 stones, possibly forming astronomical observing points.^[30]

America's Stonehenge is an unrelated and controversial site in the U.S. state of New Hampshire.

Other sunlight alignments

• Box Tunnel, a railway tunnel on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) between Bath and Chippenham, is allegedly aligned so that the sun would shine through it on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's birthday.
• Manhattanhenge, in New York City: due to the street grid's skew of about 28.9° and the strict grid plan on most of Manhattan island, the sunset is aligned with the street grid lines in May and July and the sunrise is so aligned in December and January.
• Raleighhenge in Raleigh, North Carolina: alignment of the street grids brings sunrise alignment.^[31]
• MIThenge

at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the setting sun shines directly down the Infinite Corridor twice each year.

• The Armed Forces Memorial, Staffordshire, England has an opening in its wall which allows the sun to illuminate its centre at 11:00 on Armistice Day.

Further reading

• Book: Burl, Aubrey. The Stone Circles of the British Isles. New Haven. Yale University Press. 1976. 978-0-300-02398-5.
• Book: Burl, Aubrey . Max Milligan . amp . Circles of Stone. The Harvill Press. 1999. 1-86046-661-3.
• Book: Burl, Aubrey. A Brief History of Stonehenge. London. Robinson. 2007. 978-1-84529-591-2.
• Book: Mooney, J. Encyclopedia of the Bizarre. Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 2005. 978-1-57912-482-3. registration.

External links

• Roadside America: American Stonehenges
• STANHENGE... a plan for the real deal!
• Hear the sound within the MaryHill Replica
• Acoustic measurements of the MaryHill Replica

Notes and References

1. Web site: Home . esperancestonehenge.com.au.
2. Web site: Go to Stonehenge-aotearoa.co.nz - Offline . Astronomynz.org.nz . 2015-09-29.
3. Web site: Altar stone of Stonehenge replica built in memory of World War I soldiers is dedicated at Maryhill on 4 July 1918. HistoryLink.org Essay 7809. Becker. Paula. June 14, 2006. HistoryLink. 2008-07-26.
4. Web site: Adamiak. Jessica. Foamhenge, Natural Bridge, VA. Travel + Leisure Magazine. 18 April 2012. August 2011.
5. Web site: Bamahenge, Elberta, Alabama . Roadside America . 31 May 2020 . en.
6. Web site: Missouri S&T Stonehenge . 18 November 2008 . mst.edu . Missouri S&T Rock Mechanics & Explosives Research Center .
7. Web site: Portail d'informations Ce site est en venteg. Strohhenge.de. 2015-09-29.
8. Web site: Sighthill Park stone circle. Brocweb.com . 2009-09-01.
9. Web site: Astronomer bids to rejuvenate stone circle . Alison Campsie . The Scottish Herald . 2010-06-02 . 2010-06-09.
10. Web site: Re-newed Stone Circle in Sight . Local News Glasgow . 2010-06-05 . 2010-06-24.
11. Web site: Jeremy Deller's inflatable Stonehenge gives Glasgow a bounce in its step. Kirsty Scott. The Guardian. 20 April 2012.
12. Web site: Public Art Online News - Stonehenge on tour – Jeremy Deller's 'Sacrilege' arrived at Whitstable Biennale. publicartonline.org.uk.
13. Web site: Jeremy Deller's Inflatable Stonehenge lands in Hong Kong - Flux Magazine. Flux Magazine. 10 March 2017 .
14. Web site: Solstice Park Sculptures . Solsticepark.com . 2015-09-29.
15. News: Steel Henge and Centenary Riverside. 2010-07-19. 2017-12-02. en-GB.
16. Web site: History. www.carhenge.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20090125133243/http://www.carhenge.com/history.htm . January 25, 2009.
17. Encyclopedia: Ouzts . Clay . New Georgia Encyclopedia . Georgia Guidestones . 2022-07-12 . 2022-07-11 .
18. News: Stelloh . Tim . July 7, 2022 . Georgia Guidestones monument is destroyed after explosion . NBC News . live . July 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220707191555/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/georgia-monument-called-satanic-gubernatorial-candidate-destroyed-expl-rcna37039 . July 7, 2022.
19. Web site: Belluz Farms - Growing since 1946. www.belluzfarms.on.ca . https://web.archive.org/web/20050224131015/http://www.belluzfarms.on.ca/category/25 . February 24, 2005.
20. Web site: Mudhenge to Yonder: Burning Man 1996 / Bm-019.JPG. www.lvtv.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20060304171257/http://www.lvtv.com/thirdivan/burningman96/pages/Bm-019_jpg.htm . March 4, 2006.
21. Web site: Kentucky's Stonehenge | Clonehenge . April 21, 2016 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160610232443/https://clonehenge.com/2008/11/22/kentuckys-stonehenge/ . June 10, 2016 .
22. Web site: Burning Man Galleries.
23. Web site: Quirky New Mexico - Enchanted State Oddities and Unusual Attractions - Page 2. legendsofamerica.com.
24. Web site: Truckhenge - Topeka, Kansas. 2020-07-27. www.kansastravel.org.
25. Web site: Small Size Does Matter. www.nus.edu.sg . https://web.archive.org/web/20090211213233/http://www.nus.edu.sg/corporate/research/gallery/research25.htm . February 11, 2009.
26. "Number 8 Network" https://www.number8network.co.nz/2014/12/22/gordontons-world-famous-fridgehenge/
27. Web site: Snowhenge. Peter Salisbury. snowhenge.blogspot.com.
28. Web site: Muchołapka, Nowa Ruda - SkyscraperPage.com . 2024-08-16 . skyscraperpage.com.
29. Web site: Hitler's Stonehenge . 2024-08-16 . Atlas Obscura . en.
30. Web site: 'Amazon Stonehenge' found in Brazil. 14/05/2006. ABC News Online. www.abc.net.au . https://web.archive.org/web/20100416131355/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1637840.htm . April 16, 2010.
31. Web site: Rice . Tony . Rising sun creates 'Raleigh-henge' . WRAL.com . 15 March 2013. 2015-09-29.