Livestream summer solstice at Stonehenge

Stonehenge is closed right now and won’t open until next month, leaving hundreds of disappointed pilgrims and tourists who would otherwise have flocked to the ancient site to see the dawn break over the Heel stone. English Heritage is offering an alternative experience open to everyone in the world: a livestream of sunset today and sunrise tomorrow morning.

The sunset broadcast begins in less than two hours, 8:26 PM GMT (4:26 PM EDT). Sunrise kicks off at a bracing 3:52 AM GMT, which will be shortly before midnight tonight EDT. The video streams will go live a half hour beforehand.

If weather cooperates, and so far it looks good, this is going to be a unique opportunity to view Stonehenge’s interactions with the sun on the longest day of the year because English Heritage will have cameras set up to capture the scene to its best advantage and there will be no people there to get in the way. This is what it looked like last year, just to give you an idea of what a mob scene it usually is:

To join in the remote revelry, simply go to English Heritage’s Facebook page. You don’t need to sign up, sign in or do anything at all other than click and watch. If you’d like to enhance your enjoyment of the moment by learning more about Stonehenge and summer solstice, the excellent weekly English Heritage podcast recently dedicated an episode to it which you can listen to here.

If you aren’t able to view the livestreams, the recorded videos will be posted later on English Heritage’s Facebook page.

And the sunrise (albeit a little short on sun):

5 thoughts on “Livestream summer solstice at Stonehenge

    1. I feel the same way. I would love to see it in person, but the big crowds really put a damper on the quality of the experience. I’m thrilled to see it people-free.

  1. Realize now how blessed my Mrs. and I were to visit Stonehenge in the late ’80s, before things became un-Henged with the crowds, the vandalism, and the ugly fence.

  2. I remember walking among the stones, sitting on them back in the 1970s. Ah, the joys of being young and stupid… :giggle:

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