Arbor Low is a well-preserved

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

henge A henge can be one of three related types of Neolithic Earthworks (archaeology), earthwork. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ditches ...

in the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Peak District The Peak District is an Highland, upland area in central-northern England, at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It is subdivi ...

, England. It lies on a Carboniferous Limestone plateau known as the

White Peak The White Peak, also known as the Low Peak, is a limestone plateau that forms the central and southern part of the Peak District in England. It is mostly between and above sea-level and is enclosed by the higher altitude Dark Peak (also know ...

area. The monument consists of a

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

surrounded by earthworks and a ditch.

Description

The monument includes about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle. There were probably 41–43 stones originally, but some are now in fragments. They range in size from , with

monolith A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often made of very hard and solid igneous or metamorphic rock. Some monolit ...

s of between . One stone is partially upright; the rest are lying flat. Although it is often stated that the stones have never stood upright, it is possible that they had originally been set upright in shallow stone holes. In the centre of the circle lie at least six smaller blocks known as the

cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

, originally believed to have been set in a rectangle. The stones are surrounded by an earth bank, approximately at the outside edges and high, with an interior ditch about 2 metres deep and wide. There are two

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

entrances breaching both the bank and ditch; a north-west entrance wide, and a south-east entrance wide. The inner bank encloses an area of . Few henge monuments in the British Isles are as well preserved.

Finds

Human skeletal remains were discovered close to the cove during excavations between 1901 and 1902. Other finds have included flint scrapers, arrowheads, and bone and antler tools.

Surrounding landscape

A large

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

round

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

or barrow was built later, to the east of the henge, using material taken from the earth bank. It was excavated in 1845 and found to contain a cremation burial, flint and bone artefacts, and two pots similar to Late Neolithic Peterborough ware now in the care of

Weston Park Museum Weston Park Museum is a museum in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is one mile west of Sheffield city centre within Weston Park. It is Sheffield's largest museum and is housed in a Grade II* listed building and managed by Museums Sheff ...

. Arbor Low is part of a larger complex, and is linked by an earth ridge to the earlier

oval barrow of Gib Hill 320m away.

Construction and usage

The bank and ditch of the henge, as well as its two entrances, were probably established in the

Late Neolithic In the Near Eastern archaeology, archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding th ...

period, with the stones added later, sometime before 2000 BCE. The site seems to have been in use until the

, when the outer bank was reconstructed so that the round barrow could be erected. Both the earthworks and the stoneworks are probably later than the nearby Gib Hill.

Statutory protection

Arbor Low was one of the first ancient monuments to be given statutory protection, on 18 August 1882. Small stone markers engraved VR and GR (for ''Victoria Regina'' and ''Georgius Rex'') still stand around the henge, demarcating the protected area. One of the VR stones, having been damaged, has been replaced by one bearing CR (for ''Charles Rex'' – meaning Charles III).

Access

The henge stands on private farmland but is accessible to the public. As of September 2020, an entrance fee of £1 per adult is requested. Children can enter free of charge.

References

External links

Visitor information (English Heritage)
{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Derbyshire English Heritage sites in Derbyshire History of Derbyshire Peak District Stone circles in Derbyshire Tourist attractions in Derbyshire Scheduled monuments in Derbyshire Henges in England