Peak Experience

Arbor Low stone circle lies inside a high stone bank and deep ditch.  The stones are now fallen, perhaps toppled by long-dead superstitious farmers.

 

A picture of arbow low

 

5,000 to 4,000 years ago Arbor Low was ringed with campfires.  People gathered here from across the region for large, communal ceremonies.  They made flint tools, exchanged cattle and renewed social bonds that connected them across the landscape.  The henge was created with views north across the limestone plateau in mind.

 

A picture of a painting of arbor low A picture of a painting of arbor low

The best way to enter the henge is through one of the two entrances, following in the footsteps of the original builders.  The entrances controlled access to rituals conducted in the interior.  Perhaps only the priests or shamans entered in those times, while other people watched from the banks.

Later generations built large burial mounds on the henge bank and on top of an earlier tomb nearby at Gib Hill.

 

The henge is 350 metres from a car park with interpretation panel.  Access is through a farmyard, for which a small charge is made.  An illustrated booklet is for sale here and at Bakewell visitor centre.

 

Some of the earliest farmers built Arbor Low, during the New Stone Age or Neolithic.  Very little evidence of these people has survived except for their stone tools, burials and ceremonial monuments.  People probably lived in small communities scattered widely across the landscape.  They had mobile lifestyles, moving with their livestock between pastures and fields in different places.  

 

The farmers grew arable crops in woodland clearings.  They reared cattle for meat and dairy produce.  Other known foods included honey and apples.

 

It is rare to discover houses dating from this period, but two were excavated near Buxton in the 1980s. Archaeologists found square timber buildings and evidence of flint tool making.

Arbor Low is an impressive monument. It measures 85 metres in diameter and its banks are over 2 metres high.

 

A picture of arbor low

 

Neolithic people may have travelled from miles around to gather here for ceremonies at certain times of the year. Camping outside the henge, they had the rare opportunity to meet people from other communities to renew social relationships.  They could exchange cattle and stone tools, debate disputes over access to land and even arrange marriage partners.  Much of their time was probably spent feasting and in spiritual ceremonies.

 

The two entrances and the layout of the stone circle restricted movement and access inside the henge, heightening the ceremonial drama.  We aren’t sure whether everybody was allowed in, or only important people. Perhaps their equivalent of priests or shamans conducted the ceremonies in secret.  We can imagine prehistoric secret rites within the stone structure at the very centre of the henge.  When the stones were upright, there would have been just enough room for one or two people, with no one else able to see what they were doing.

 

A picture of rocks at arbor low A picture of Gib Hill

 

The earliest focus for ceremonies was not the henge, but an oval burial mound nearby.  Now known as Gib Hill, it may be several centuries older than Arbor Low.  Cremated bodies of the dead and bones of oxen were buried in the mound.

 

A round burial mound was built on top of the earlier grave in the Bronze Age, many centuries later.  It contained a small stone-lined tomb.  When antiquarian Thomas Bateman excavated a tunnel into Gib Hill in 1848, the Bronze Age tomb fell through the roof of his tunnel!

 

Later generations built another round burial mound on Arbor Low’s bank.  They did this to claim that their ancestral lines went all the way back to the original henge and tomb builders.

 

Public transport information for all locations can be found by calling Traveline on 0871 200 2233.

Buses from Bakewell to Hartington pass Arbor Low.  There are more services, including from Buxton to Ashbourne, a short walk further away.  In either case, use Traveline to look for journeys to Parsley Hay.