Home Private Tour Cruise Excursion Places to Explore Ancient East About Contact Us
Make a Tour Inquiry Book a Private Tour

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2016

On the days around the Winter Solstice when the skies are clear, the rising sun illuminates the passage and chamber of the 5,000 year old megalithic passage tomb at Newgrange in the Boyne Valley. Conditions were good on Sunday, December 18.

Weathered standing stone at sunset on green grass with Boyne Valley hills and cloudy sky beyond There was some cloud on the horizon obscuring the rising sun at Newgrange on December 18
Visitors silhouetted against golden sunset at Hill of Tara beside the Lia Fail standing stone The rising sun soon cleared the cloud to bathe Newgrange in golden light
Newgrange white quartz facade glowing in morning light with visitors and kerbstones on the lawn The white quartz on the Newgrange mound glows in the sunlight
Newgrange entrance and roof box with white quartz stones above the lintel, dark passage below in warm afternoon light The sunbeam enters the chamber through an opening called the roof box over the entrance door
Book a Private Tour Make a Tour Inquiry
Golden winter solstice light entering the Newgrange passage and illuminating orthostats along the stone corridor It is the higher sunbeam from the roof box that illuminates the chamber inside Newgrange

5,000 year old solar alignment

Above the entrance to Newgrange there is an opening called a roof box. On mornings around the winter solstice a beam of light penetrates the roof box and travels up the 19 meter passage and into the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens so that the whole chamber is dramatically illuminated.

Access to the chamber on the solstice mornings is decided by a lottery that takes place at the end of September each year. All are welcome to gather outside the entrance to the Newgrange mound on each of the mornings from December 18 to December 23 inclusive, sunrise is at 8.58am.

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) - Ireland's Ancient East

Newgrange passage tomb lit from below at night, with green aurora borealis glowing across the purple sky above The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) over Newgrange in the Boyne Valley on December 20, 2015.

Newgrange Winter Solstice Archive

Close view of the Newgrange entrance and roof box, with carved lozenges on the lintel and quartz and cobble facade in golden light