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Illumination wanes rapidly as I stand within the ancient ring of stones at Tregeseal. The ancient pillars seem to shine in this sombre landscape, like curious, spectral figures assembled around to see our actions. Above us, a blanket of brown heathland plants rises toward the prominent outcrop, the imposing granite tor that dominates the bare vista. During the evening, this moorland is reputed to be visited by pixies and demons, and on occasion Old Nick ventures forth in search of lost souls.

Unconcerned by potential folkloric menace, we gaze toward the ocean, toward the distant forms on the horizon that are the far-off Isles of Scilly. The clouds crack open and a wave of sunlight falls over the islands. My companion, archaeoastronomer Carolyn Kennett, and I gasp. It is breathtaking a spectacle of nature which may have been witnessed by the community who built this circle 4,000 years ago.

A Prehistoric Midwinter Vista

We have met at Tregeseal to discuss the year's turning point. Carolyn’s work examines the connection of the region's ancient past with the sky, and she portrays the entire westernmost tip of Cornwall as an age-old winter solstice landscape. This, she says, is because of the backbone of granite that extends in a southwesterly direction along the peninsula, aligned with the midwinter sunset. If, for example, you stand at midwinter by the ancient burial chamber of Chûn Quoit – the capstoned grave upon the moors south of Morvah – you will see the sun set over Carn Kenidjack on the western horizon. And likely this is exactly as the tomb's ancient engineers intended.

"Is there a more fitting location to mark the return of the daylight than on the Penwith peninsula, which aims directly at the sinking location of the sun on the year’s shortest day?"

It is proposed that this ancient monument was deliberately sited to allow people to view the midwinter sun going down behind the Isles of Scilly. “Observed from here, Scilly is a borderland. On a bright day with high pressure, the isles look accessible and just seem to leap out. On other days, they’re entirely absent. The circle builders could have perceived Scilly as an otherworldly place, possibly a land of ancestors, associated with the darkest day and the rebirth of the light.”

Mysterious Monuments and Countdown Calendars

We pick our way through the dusk-filled copper-colored moor past prehistoric burial mounds and mounds of industrial waste to a mysterious monument, which may be the UK’s only Neolithic line of perforated rocks. In contrast to the stone at the famous holed stone a few miles away, it’s not feasible to squeeze through the perforated monoliths; these holes are only just big enough to fit my hand through and very low to the ground. Experts remain perplexed.

One hypothesis is that the alignment might have operated as a kind of solar event marker, with the rising sun passing through the holes from late October until December and producing varying shafts of light in the stones’ shadows. “Sensing the warmth of that ray of sunlight in the cold, dark moor gave me a profound appreciation of how Neolithic farmers might have marked midwinter,” she says.

Too many prehistoric monuments are oriented to the rising or setting of the sun at the solstices for it to be a chance. It makes sense that ancient cultivators, who needed the sun for illumination, heat and the growth of crops, would want to monitor the sun’s journey. But in the modern era, the short days of this time of year still affects our moods, and so we anticipate the midwinter, that most shadowy day of all before the sunlit time begin to grow again.

Enduring Monoliths and Contemporary Celebrations

A bitter east wind is gusting, and haunting cries rise from hidden cows as I walk through wet clover to pay a visit the solitary monolith, standing guard as it has done for thousands of years above the peninsula’s south coast. It is just one of dozens of ancient monoliths that stand alone or in alignments all over the peninsula; less than a mile away are the well-known stone circle, dancers frozen in granite for violating the Sabbath. I think about how for ages the stone has persisted here, enjoying its vista of the Celtic Sea and English Channel: where once ancient boats would have floated, now container ships and the island boat pass by.

"Montol revives the ancient tradition of masked dancing, with its intricate disguises, traditional carolling and music of woodwind, percussion and strings."

Christopher Morris’s captivating film, chronicling a full year in the presence of this stone, draws attention to the power of its unmoving and mute presence in the ever-changing landscape. “And I intentionally started and ended the film with the solstice,” he explains, “because it is a point of pure hope – the assurance of the ending of the dark and a bright new year ahead.”

On 21 December, all over this region, people will be observing midwinter by walking to stone circles, sacred springs, Iron Age sites and prehistoric lookout points. Tours will be conducted to observe the sun setting. Many will make their way to ancient stones in a kind of practice of contemplation and rebirth. Later, crowds will congregate into the harbour town for Montol, a winter celebration that {dates only to|was established in|originated in