Winter Solstice - 21 December 2020

The Office of Public Works’ annual Winter Solstice gathering at the Neolithic Passage Tomb of Newgrange on 21 December was cancelled this year, due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.

The hugely significant Solstice Sunrise event was live-streamed from within the Chamber, on the 20th, 21st and 22nd of December, so that everyone could experience this wonderful phenomenon from any location around the world.

During the closure, an archaeological research project was carried out at the 5,200 year old Newgrange monument where we scientifically measured and monitored the movement of the winter sunlight coming through the roof box into the passage and chamber, to determine how the beam of dawn light interplays with the chamber as we move towards Solstice and then past it.

Results of this research project will be issued in 2021.

Live recording officially commences at 6.55mins on this Video (Please fast-forward)