Stonehenge opens to Druids for Vernal Equinox

26 03 2010
 

English Heritage site welcomes worshippers to mark the start of spring

Druids celebrate the sping equinox at Stonehenge(Panasonic)

A handful of lucky Druids took advantage of a rare opportunity to walk amongst Stonehenge this Saturday, 20 March in celebration of the Spring Equinox. Less than a hundred visitors, including Druids and pagan worshippers met at around 5.30am to watch the sunrise and welcome in the spring.

Despite the wet, windy weather, traditional customs such as blessings, chants and drum choruses went ahead in the middle of the ordinarily protected English Heritage site.

With characters dressed in outfits of white robes, floral headdresses, witches brooms and even stag’s antlers, attendees worshipped as the sun rose directly above the equator.

Despite heavy cloud cover, the gathered crowd enjoyed a brief glimpse of the sun before taking advantage of their rare chance to touch and interact with the stones.

Formal proceedings were overseen by renowned Arch Druid of Stonehenge Rollo MaughFling, leading both traditional chants and calling for more contemporary solutions, too. When talking about the upcoming General Election, the Arch Druid strayed away from a political bias and instead asked that, “Whoever is best fitted to lead us out of recession and back into prosperity be the party that wins as many people are suffering.”

One fellow Druid not afraid of showing his political stance was notorious eco-campaigner, Arthur Uther Pendragon, announcing his decision to run as an independent candidate in the forthcoming election.

“I have stood three times previously,” he told MSN UK, “The first time, I embarrassed the British National Party into last place, the second time, the new leader of the Monster Raving Looney Party into last place, and the third time I embarrassed myself into last place, but still polling 1% of the Vote.”

The day was also saw a posthumous appearance by Wally Hope, the founder of the Stonehenge festival. Since his death in 1975, the ashes of Wally Hope have been carried to the stones by their official keepers.


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Concrete Post Henge is Oldest Structure In England

22 02 2010


English Heritage, working in conjunction with The National Trust, are fighting ‘tooth and nail’ to preserve the newly discovered ancient Henge found in Wiltshire, England.

Also located in Wiltshire is Stonehenge thought to have been erected in around 3000BC. Coincidently, Concrete Post Henge is only, a remarkable, fifty feet away from the former, just over a small hill. Chartered Surveyors were called to the scene immediately and were able to verify that the structure had been around since at least two days after The Big Bang. Primitive drill bit markings and circular saw striations were, apparently, the most obvious clues in the age determining process.

“I can’t believe we didn’t spot it before; it was right under our noses. The significance of this find cannot be underestimated. I’ve seen a few henges in my time, nobody knows what the heck a henge is yet, but I know this is a good one.”

National Trust stalwart Walter Ernest made only one comment to The Spoof:

“It’s a sad day here for us in Wiltshire. I’ve put my life, heart and soul into promoting ‘old stoney’ as the nation’s oldest treasure, since my divorce it’s been like a friend to me. No doubt some young bucks will get the job of looking after the new find and I’ll probably have to go back to a career
in druid stone circles now…”

Now that was funny! The story above is a satire or parody. It is entirely fictitious.

This was from the Spoof website.


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Doctor Who filming at Stonehenge

5 02 2010


On Tuesday night, February 2, Wiltshire’s ancient stone monument was taken over by a film crew…..filming season five of BBC 1’s Doctor Who.

Exclusive leak….
Turns out that when the moon lies above the stone circle and the sun is on the opposite side of the earth, the stone circle acts as a gateway to a parallel time and place. Standing in the centre of the circle can allow one to be at one with the entire universe but unfortunately induces runaway ageing and exposure to other more evil personalities bent upon conquest. Dr Who finds himself imprisoned within the stone circle of an advanced extra-galactic civilisation and is held as a hostage until dastardly demands are met. The clock is running and the Doctor is rapidly ageing towards infancy. A twist in the tale is the entity that is allowed into the modern Human world when the stone circle is activated. Sadly, the choices are harsh…..either allow the proposed McDonalds drive-through planned for the Avenue, the bowling alley, the souvenir shop and the vast visitor facilities or, the Doctor will be wearing nappies for the remainder of this series and the evil personality (a hybrid mutation of David Icke and Schliemann) will win executive control of English Heritage.

Doctor Who at Stonehenge
Despite it being a closed set…
Local fans, braved the rain hoping to catch a glimpse of the action: “I’ve been a fan of Doctor Who since I was five, that’s 35 years now, and this has been the first chance I’ve had to see it being filmed.”

…plus returning professor River Song (Alex Kingston) have all been spotted on set – along with a brazier or two – the rumour is that the latest episodes including The Eleventh Hour, The Beast Below and Victory of the Daleks will all be set ‘some time in the past’.

With early filming reports claiming that the Doctor aka Matt Smith along with his sexy assistant Amy Pond played by Karen Gillan…


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Avebury and Stonehenge go live on Google

28 01 2010

WOW 360-degree views of Stonehenge – click here

Avebury and Stonehenge can be explored with the click of a mouse from today as the National Trust’s most famous sites have been added to Google’s Street View mapping.

Over 20 historic locations across the UK – including castles, landscapes and country houses – have been scanned using a panoramic camera, bolted to the back of a tricycle, and added to Google’s online mapping service.

Users can now take a 360-degree, ground-level tour of sites such as Corfe Castle in Dorset, Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, Lindisfarne Castle in Northumberland, and Plas Newydd in Wales.

Austen fans with a romantic sensibility can even take a virtual turn around Lyme Park in Cheshire – made famous by Colin Firth’s emergence from its lake as Mr Darcy in the BBC’s adaptation of Pride And Prejudice.

Google’s Street View cyclists pedalled over 125 miles on the 18-stone trike, following marked routes around the National Trust sites to capture them from every angle.

Ed Parsons, technologist at Google, said: “We were delighted to be able to open up some of the UK’s most famous landmarks to the rest of the world via the web.”

However, he does not believe the online experience will discourage tourists from visiting the sites in person.

“It’s a fun way to preview what to see and do on a day out,” he said.

“Or whet your appetite for where to go next.”

Google will continue to collect images from other National Trust sites throughout 2010, including UNESCO World Heritage Site the Giant’s Causeway, in County Antrim.


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