All the attention tends to be on Newgrange for the winter solstice. But tomorrow evening a small group will assemble to watch the sun set on the passage tomb at Knockroe, in south Kilkenny. They will stand behind the western tomb at what is locally called the Caiseal, and align themselves to see the rays beam down the passage.
The Neolithic structure is just 100 metres inside the Kilkenny border with Tipperary.
Similar in design and size to the great passage tombs in Newgrange and Knowth, both in Co Meath, Knockroe plays a very significant role in our understanding of that period.
It confirmed that passage tombs extended on a line from the Boyne Valley all the way to the southern coast.
"A single decorated stone from Clear Island off the coast of Co Cork was thought to be the full extent of the passage tombs and their decorated stones in the southern half of the island," Dr Muiris O'Sullivan, an archaeologist, said.
That was before the discovery of Knockroe which has 10 decorated "kerb stones" and at least one other tomb or chamber, yet to be explored.
Dr O'Sullivan has painstakingly excavated the site over a number of years.
During summer holidays the University College Dublin lecturer returns to the site, owned by the Morrissey family. He has been told that another eastern tomb, at Knockroe, may highlight the morning solstice on December 21st.
This is based on local lore and will require much more detailed research before it can be confirmed.
Dr O'Sullivan warns that the passage tombs at Knockroe are in a delicate and precarious condition.
Visitors there have often, unwittingly, walked or sat on carved stone works of art. The abrasion from human contact has accelerated the erosion of the decorated surfaces, and much of the remaining art work is in danger of being lost for ever.