Illumination wanes swiftly as I am situated within the granite circle near St Just. The ancient pillars glow in this melancholy terrain, like pale, inquisitive ghosts collected round to see our presence. Overhead, a blanket of dried ferns and scrub rises toward the rocky hill of Carn Kenidjack, the sinister rock outcrop that overshadows the bare vista. At night, this moorland is reputed to be frequented by sprites and spirits, and reportedly the devil himself rides out in search of wayward spirits.
Unconcerned by superstitious folkloric menace, we gaze westward, in the direction of the smudges on the horizon that are the distant Isles of Scilly. The clouds crack open and a cascade of golden light washes over the islands. My companion, archaeoastronomer an authority on prehistoric astronomy, and I exclaim. It is breathtaking natural theatre which may have been witnessed by the community who built this circle in the Neolithic era.
An Ancient Winter Solstice Landscape
We have come together at Tregeseal to discuss the midwinter. Her research investigates the connection of the region's ancient past with the cosmos, and she describes the entire westernmost tip of Cornwall as an ancient midwinter ceremonial ground. This, she explains, is because of the ridge of Cornish stone that extends south-west along the peninsula, pointing toward the December sunset. If, for example, you position yourself at the solstice by the ancient burial chamber of Chûn Quoit – the capstoned burial chamber high on the moors south of Morvah – you will see the sun set over the distinctive tor on the southwestern horizon. And likely this is precisely as the tomb's Neolithic builders envisioned.
"What superior place to celebrate the re-emergence of the light than on the Penwith peninsula, which points in the direction of the setting point of the sun on the day of least light?"
It is proposed that the stone ring was deliberately sited to allow people to observe the midwinter sun setting behind the Isles of Scilly. “Observed from here, Scilly is a threshold place. On a bright day with stable weather, the isles look close up and just appear vividly. On different days, they’re entirely absent. The monument creators could have regarded Scilly as an realm of spirits, perhaps a land of ancestors, linked to the midwinter and the rebirth of the light.”
Enigmatic Stones and Light Beams
We thread through the darkening copper-colored moor past ancient tumuli and piles of industrial waste to a curious formation, which may be the UK’s only prehistoric alignment of holed stones. Different from the stone at Mên-an-Tol a few miles away, it’s not feasible to pass through the perforated monoliths; these holes are barely big enough to fit my hand through and extremely close to the ground. Experts remain perplexed.
One hypothesis is that the series might have worked as a kind of winter solstice countdown calendar, with the rising sun illuminating through the holes from late October until December and creating shifting beams of light in the stones’ shadows. “Sensing the heat of that sunbeam of sunlight in the cold, dark moor gave me a visceral appreciation of how prehistoric people might have marked midwinter,” she says.
A great number of prehistoric monuments are oriented to the sunrise or sunset of the sun at midwinter or midsummer for it to be a coincidence. It stands to reason that Stone Age agriculturalists, who depended on the sun for light, heat and the cultivation of crops, would want to track the sun’s journey. But in the modern era, the short days of this time of year still influences our moods, and so we anticipate the midwinter, that darkest day of all before the daylight hours begin to grow again.
Enduring Monoliths and Contemporary Celebrations
A cutting east wind is gusting, and haunting moaning emanate from hidden cows as I hike through wet clover to pay a visit the ancient standing stone, watching over as it has done for countless generations above the peninsula’s south coast. It is just one of many of prehistoric stones that are solitary or in pairs or circles all over the peninsula; less than a mile away are the famous petrified dancers, dancers transformed into rock for violating the Sabbath. I think about how long the stone has endured here, witnessing its panorama of the surrounding seas: where once ancient boats would have floated, now freighters and the Scilly ferry sail past.
"The Montol festival brings back the ancient tradition of masked dancing, with its intricate disguises, folk singing and music of traditional instruments."
One artist's mesmerising film, chronicling one cycle in the presence of this stone, highlights the impact of its still and silent being in the ever-changing landscape. “And I purposely began and concluded the film with the solstice,” he tells me, “because it is a moment of sheer anticipation – the promise of the conclusion of darkness and a bright new year ahead.”
On the winter solstice, all over the peninsula, people will be observing midwinter by hiking to monuments, sacred springs, ancient fortifications and prehistoric lookout points. Excursions will be organized to observe the sun setting. Many will walk to standing stones in a sort of ritual of reflection and renewal. Later, thousands will flock into the harbour town for Montol, a midwinter festival that {dates only to|was established in|originated in
