Thousands gather at Stonehenge for winter solstice

Thousands of people greeted the sunrise with cheers as it rose over Stonehenge for the winter solstice.

Those who observed the spectacle at the neolithic monument in Wiltshire braved a blustery morning and overcast skies to catch a glimpse of the sun to mark the shortest day.

English Heritage’s Rebecca Eade said: “It was wonderful to welcome approximately 6,000 people to Stonehenge this morning to celebrate a chilly winter solstice.

It was a peaceful celebration and despite a cloudy and blustery start, people did enjoy a bright winter solstice sunrise

Rebecca Eade - English Heritage

“We were delighted that a further 98,500 people watched the sunrise live online from right around the world.

“It was a peaceful celebration and despite a cloudy and blustery start, people did enjoy a bright winter solstice sunrise.”

Stonehenge is a monument built on the alignment of the midsummer sunrise and the midwinter sunset.

Thousands of people braved a blustery morning to catch the sunrise over Stonehenge to mark the shortest day of the year (Ben Birchall/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Ben Birchall

It is believed that solstices have been celebrated at Stonehenge for thousands of years.

The date of the equinoxes and solstices varies because the Gregorian calendar does not exactly match the length of the tropical year – the time it takes the Earth to complete an orbit around the Sun.

To realign the calendar with the tropical year, a leap day is introduced every four years and when this happens, the equinox and solstice dates shift back to the earlier date.