Watching the winter sun
What a solstice calculation can tell us about a stone circle — and what it cannot.
By Beyond the Bend · 11 October 2026
Stone circles attract claims about the sun. Some are well founded; many rest on a compass bearing and a flat horizon that does not exist. This story works through the calculation for Beltany openly, so that each assumption can be seen and challenged.
The direction shown assumes a flat horizon. In reality the hills around Beltany raise the horizon by an amount that has not yet been measured, and a raised horizon moves the midwinter sunset further to the south. Until the horizon is surveyed, the calculated direction is a starting point, not a result.
What would count as evidence
A geometric agreement between a monument and a solar direction is common by chance: there are many stones and many possible events. An argument for intention needs more — a consistent pattern across monuments, a measured horizon, and archaeological evidence that the arrangement was deliberate.
RecordBeltany Stone Circle