Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland
From the outside it looks like a grass-covered UFO, its curved, chalk-white walls gleaming amid the green countryside. Yet inside is one of the most impressive prehistoric constructions in Europe. Rediscovered in 1699, but only excavated in the 1960s, Newgrange in the Boyne Valley is a Neolithic passage tomb that has been dated to about 3,200BC (older than the Egyptian pyramids) and is so well made it’s never once sprung a leak. But that’s not its most impressive feature – the builders created an elaborate roof box that once a year, on winter solstice (shortly after sunrise on 21 December 2024), allows light to creep into the main passageway and illuminate the tomb chamber for 17 minutes. An annual lottery decides who gets to witness it, but visitors can wait outside and cheer the arrival of the sunlight. If you miss it, they artificially recreate the phenomenon on every tour.
Tickets €18 per adult, or watch it live online
Glastonbury Tor, Somerset
Every year, pagans and druids descend on this 158-metre-tall hillock – AKA the Isle of Avalon – to welcome the sunrise on the winter solstice (as well as sunrise the day after). For them it marks the “new year” as the sun slowly begins its return. Expect fires, drumming and singing near the remains of the 14th-century church of St Michael. But it’s not just the tor that sees the action. There’s everything from open air celebrations to meditations, fire ceremonies and workshops at the Chalice Well Trust, and a special celebration in the town’s assembly rooms from 7.30pm with poetry, storytellers and a choir – all free and everyone is welcome.
Burning the Clocks, Brighton
Crowds flock to central Brighton to watch processions of people carrying homemade paper and willow lanterns for the annual Burning the Clocks celebration, to mark the shortest day of the year. Started by SameSky – a community-led arts charity – 2024 marks the 30th time it’s taken place and will see the parade weave from New Road near the Pavilion at around 6pm, through the city centre, ending at Kemptown at 8pm where – as a protest against the materialism of Christmas – the lanterns are burned on a bonfire; fireworks are also set off to mark the start of a new year to come. All welcome, no fee – though donations are gratefully received.
Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland
Back in Roman times, rather than celebrate the solstice per se, a festival was held called Saturnalia to honour the god of farming (Saturn), the end of the harvest and start of a new year. It used to be celebrated on 17 December but over time was extended until the 23rd and was the one public holiday when even slaves could have the day off. Soldiers on Hadrian’s Wall are believed to have marked the festival by drinking, eating and being merry. Back in 2022 (to mark 1,900 years since the wall was built) a special festival was held across the month, including on the solstice. Now, with the news that the tree stump left at Sycamore Gap is starting to show signs of regrowth after vandals cut it down, it’s the perfect place to go to see the sunrise and celebrate a new dawn on this old wall.
Bryn Celli Ddu, Anglesey
Much like Stonehenge, this 4,000-year-old Neolithic burial chamber (built on the site of a former henge) is a place pagans visit every summer solstice, to witness an illuminating internal light spectacle much like that of Ireland’s Newgrange. Yet this “Mound in the Dark Grove” (its English translation) is also worth a visit in December when the local Anglesey Druid Order celebrate the returning of the longer days. Both they and locals gather at the chamber’s entrance during the last hour of daylight to celebrate the land, sea and sky, and offer their thanks to mythical Welsh figures from the Mabinogion.
Maeshowe Chambered Cairn, Orkney
Orkney is home to more than 200 known Neolithic sites – many of which pre-date Stonehenge. Ten miles west of Kirkwall, on Orkney Mainland, lies a large grass-covered mound known as Maeshowe Chambered Cairn. Its entrance is aligned so that for six weeks over winter (roughly from the end of November through to the middle of January) the setting sun shines into the central chamber of the cairn and light plays across the back wall of the burial chamber – alleged by some to be a doorway into another world. Pre-booking is advised; to see the setting sun choose the 2pm tour. Can’t make it? Check out the video of the spectacle.
Clava Cairns, Inverness
One of Scotland’s most evocative prehistoric sites (and recently starring in the Outlander TV show) Clava Cairns is a circular chamber tomb cairn, built more than 4,000 years ago. What can be seen today – prehistoric burial mounds and the remains of a medieval chapel – would have been part of a much larger complex where people would gather on the shortest day to watch the internal passageways glow golden as the sun sets. Today these ancients traditions come alive at solstice with music, stories and silence for spiritual reflection. The site is open all day and is free. Sunset happens around 3.30pm.
Kenidjack Holed Stones, Cornwall
On the eastern slopes of Carn Kenidjack, a rocky outcrop near Tregeseal, is this cluster of four stones. Each one features a circular hole – for reasons no one can say with any certainty, though its believed by many to be some kind of celestial calendar. On the winter solstice one of them captures the setting sun beautifully within its cutout. You won’t find crowds up here as it’s mainly flown under the radar, but you will be rewarded by a great sunset stroll from St Just or Botallack, to a place where two miners once said they saw a wrestling match presided over by the devil.
Druid’s Temple, North Yorkshire
Don’t be fooled. Masham is not home to the northern Stonehenge – or not one as old anyway. Commissioned back in the late 1700s/early 1800s by eccentric landowner William Danby, it was his way of trying to reduce unemployment figures by making locals build this folly, featuring stone circles, sarsens and dolmens, He even offered a wage to anyone who was willing to live here as a hermit (apparently there was one, but he only lasted four years). Over time this place has been adopted for rituals by various groups, but most recently by those visiting the Swinton Bivouac on which it sits to enjoy a coffee from the on-site cafe, before welcoming in the longer days ahead on one of many walking trails.
Castell Henllys, Pembrokeshire
A reconstruction of an iron age village may not be the obvious place to spend a winter solstice, but this one sits on the exact same spot as one did more than 2,000 years ago. Actors dressed as villagers offer demonstrations of what life would have been like, there’s a barefoot walking trail (to wander like a Celtic warrior) as well as a cafe and play area for kids. And on the shortest day, from 11am-3pm there will be a bonfire, festive crafts, stories and a visit from Mari Lwyd – a mischievous white horse from Welsh mythology who only appears in mid-winter. Tickets are £10 adult, £9 concession, £8 child, £32 family (2+2).
