Newgrange
Winter Solstice

Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery

Newgrange Winter Solstice Draw 2008 - The annual draw to attend the Winter Solstice at Newgrange took place on Friday September 26th 2008 at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre More...

Admission to the chamber of Newgrange for the Winter Solstice sunrise is by lottery. Application forms to witness what surely must be the world's oldest calendar clock, are available at the reception desk in the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre.

There were 34,107 applications submitted for the 2008 Winter Solstice Draw. Application forms are now available at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre for the 2009 Solstice Lottery Draw.

There is no on-line application system, however the obliging Staff at the Visitor Centre will fill out a form on your behalf. Email your postal details and a contact telephone number to and they will complete an application form on your behalf.

At the end of September each year, 50 names are drawn by local school children, 10 names for each morning the chamber is illuminated, 2 places in the chamber are awarded to each of the names drawn. A reserve list is also drawn, the reserve list is there in case someone whose name is drawn for the initial list is not contactable or else finds it impossible to travel to Newgrange on the date they have been assigned.

Application forms are available at the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre where there is a special post box for completed application forms. Places allocated by lottery are non-transferable. Lottery winners cannot offer their place in the chamber to someone else.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2006

Click Here for images photographed on the morning of the 21st December 2006.

Joe & Clare won tickets in the winter solstice lottery for December 22nd, they were very fortunate to experience a glorious sunrise in the chamber at Newgrange.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2005

I am very grateful to Anne-Maria Moroney who was at Newgrange on the 20th of December and has made these images available.

The sun didn't shine on the morning of the 21st December, the disappointment was eloquently described by Eileen Battersby in the Irish Times.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2004

Click Here for images photographed on the actual morning of the winter solstice - 21st December 2004.

This image photographed from inside the chamber by Alan Betson was printed in The Irish Times newspaper on the 22nd December 2004.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2004

Images of a beautiful sunrise at Newgrange on the 19th December 2004.

Sun light in the passage at Newgrange viewed from the entrance.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2003

The Winter Solstice sunrise illuminates the passage way leading into the burial chamber of the megalithic passage tomb at Newgrange on the 21st December 2003. This wonderful photograph by Alan Betson was printed on the front page of The Irish Times newspaper on the 22nd December 2003.

Click Here for more on the 2003 Winter Solstice.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2002

Images from the Winter Solstice at Newgrange on the 22nd December 2002. A rainbow heightened the experience of those on the outside, as the fortunate few on the inside, selected by lottery experienced the illumination of the passage and chamber.

Click Here for more on the 2002 Winter Solstice at Newgrange.

Newgrange Winter Solstice 2001

Solstice sunrise lets lucky few gaze through window to an ancient world.

Light at the end of the tunnel: the sun makes its way into the main chamber at Newgrange during the winter solstice yesterday.

Photography by Frank McGrath.

Click Here for more on the 2001 Winter Solstice.