The sun is already low in the sky when I arrive. The heath looks bleak in its winter shroud, but the hawthorns are decorated with lichen tinsel and crimson-berry baubles.
Penwith is the land of bracken and bramble. Mostly agricultural and heathland, it is raw, wind-beaten and ancient. In a remote spot is Boscawen-Un. Erected between 2500BC and 1500BC, it comprises 19 standing stones, including one that’s white with quartz, which form a circle around one central leaning stone with two axe heads engraved into its base (something that only becomes wholly visible during the midsummer sunrise). Near the entrance lie a few horizontal slabs, potentially part of a burial chamber.
We don’t know the true purpose of Boscawen-Un, but it was probably a place of ceremony and ritual. Even today I find offerings tucked into holes in the quartz stone: a posy of red campion, gorse flowers, a rain-soaked handwritten letter, a lock of hair – gifts of hope and prayer. One theory is that the circle had links with the moon, with the number of stones referring to the metonic cycle, a lunisolar calendar in which the moon’s phases recur at the same time every 19 years. Quartz, meanwhile, was thought to have been sacred during the bronze age, perhaps because it would shimmer beneath the moon’s glow.
Whether due to its historical value, its sense of mystery, or the way it connects the landscape, this place still holds a certain enchantment, further enhanced around the time of the solstice.
We have slightly romanticised the idea of solstice. We see the midwinter as a time of peace and reflection, or one of celebration, but while archaeological discoveries have revealed that our ancestors did feast at the winter solstice, we also know that winter was a time of dread. The threat of death from cold or starvation was real, so their holding rituals and making sacrifices of animals or crops may have been attempts to barter their way safely through the darkest period of the year.
I watch the shadows lengthen until darkness finally envelops the circle. Neighbouring West Penwith is an international dark-sky park, and on a clear night this prehistoric monument is illuminated by the ancient starscape. Overhead, Ursa Major and Sirius come into view; the old gods have arrived to watch over the granite congregation below.
• Country diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
