THIS photograph was taken at Drombeg Stone Circle near Glandore just after 4pm on December 20th 2025, the evening before the Winter Solstice, or ‘shortest day’ on December 21st.

This simple image demonstrates the alignment which occurs at sunset on (or around) the Winter Solstice every year. When standing at a certain point just outside the circle and viewing directly between the two ‘portal’ stones (two tallest stones in the circle), the sun sets in a ‘notch’ in the hill opposite, and over the flat recumbent stone, which itself lies across from the two tall portal stones.

This can all be seen in the photograph, which was taken facing south-west just as the top limb of the sun was dipping below the horizon, inside the notch in the hill, at about 4:05pm by Damian O’Sullivan from Skibbereen.

‘I didn’t visit the Stone Circle on the Solstice itself (December 21st) as it was mostly cloudy with rain, but the evening before (December 20th) had presented a beautiful clear sunset, and the alignment is virtually just as good the day before and after the Solstice,’ said Damian.

There are 17 standing stones in the Circle, which is believed to have been built over 3,000 years ago, and is also known locally as ‘the Druid’s Altar’.