Arbor Low is a well-preserved

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. 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 ...

in the

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...

, England. It lies on a

Carboniferous Limestone Carboniferous Limestone is a collective term for the succession of limestones occurring widely throughout Great Britain and Ireland that were deposited during the Dinantian epoch (geology), Epoch of the Carboniferous period (geology), Period. T ...

plateau known as the White Peak area. The monument consists of a stone circle 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. For instance, Savandurga mountain is a monolith mountain in India. Erosion usually exposes the geological formations, which are often ma ...

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 type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...

, 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 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 is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...

round cairn 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 Sheffi ...

. 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 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 the Chalcolithic. It is some ...

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

VR heritage marker at Arbor Low henge, Derbyshire

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.

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

* *Addy, S.O. (1911). The ‘Harbour’ and Barrows at Arbour-Lows. ''Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society'', 33, 39–58. *Arnold-Bemrose, H.H. (1904). Geological notes on Arbor Low. ''Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society'', 26, 78–79. *Barnatt, J (1990). The henges, stone circles and ringcairns of the Peak District. Sheffield Archaeological Monographs, Department of Archaeology and Prehistory, University of Sheffield. - *Bateman, T. (1848). ''Vestiges of Antiquity''. John Russell Smith, London. *Cox, Rev. J.C. (1884). Some notes on Arbor Low. ''Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society'', 6, 97–107. *Gray, H. St George. (1903). On the excavation at Arbor Low 1901–2. ''Archaeologia'', 38. *Heathcote, J.P. (1956). ''Arbor Low. Today, the Days of Old, and the Years of Ancient Times''. 5th Ed. *Matthews, T.A. (1907). Some notes on Arbor Low and other lows in the High Peak. ''Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society'', 29, 103–112. *Matthews, T.A. (1911). Some further notes on the lows in the High Peak. ''Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society'', 33, 87–94. *Pegge, S. (1793). A Disquisition on the Lows or Barrows in the Peak of Derbyshire. ''Archaeologia'', VIII, 131–148. *Radley, J. (1968). The origin of Arbor Low henge monument. ''Derbyshire Archaeological Journal'', 88, 100–103.

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