Eccentric builds Stonehenge replica

A massive Stonehenge-esque structure appeared on an Irish hilltop over the weekend He hit the headlines when he drove his cement mixer, emblazoned with the words ‘Toxic Bank Anglo’, into the gates of the Irish parliament. Two months later, self-styled Anglo Avenger Joe McNamara was back in Dublin city centre, this time staging a protest from atop a cherry picker crane.
When he was later acquitted of criminal damage, he became a popular hero.
Now it looks as though the 42-year-old developer has gone stone mad.
For his latest stunt, he has built his own version of Stonehenge on a hilltop on Achill Island off the Mayo coast.
The 15ft high circle is 30m in diameter and almost 100m in circumference, with 39 standing stones and lintels.
What it does not have, however, is planning permission.
And the Anglo Avenger – or should that be the Achill Stonehenger – will have another day in court this Friday, when Mayo County Council seeks a High Court injunction against the megalithic structure.
Believed to be more than six months in planning, it was built during the course of a single weekend, starting last Friday.
Council officials visited several times and issued legal threats, but the work went ahead.
It is still not clear what the purpose of the structure is.
But if it is intended as another protest against bank bailouts, it is certainly the biggest and most conspicuous yet.
And it might even be more difficult to remove than the cement mixer and cherry picker.
Yesterday, Mr McNamara declined to comment on any aspect of the development.
A spokesman for Mayo County Council would only say: ‘The matter is the subject of ongoing enforcement proceedings’.