Arbor Low
Arbor Low is a Neolithic henge monument in the Peak District of Derbyshire. It is to be found in the White Peak area of the Peak District, a carboniferous limestone plateau lying between approximately 650 feet and 1,300 feet above sea level. The site is private property, accessible through the courtesy of the owner, and is managed by the Peak District National Park Authority.[1]
Contents
Description
Arbor Low consists of about 50 large limestone blocks, quarried from a local site, which form an egg-shaped circle, with monoliths at the entrances, and possibly a portal stone at the south entrance. There is also a large pit at the north entrance, which possibly contained a stone. Some of the stones are broken; some of these fragments may originally have been joined together, such that there were originally between 41 and 43 stones. The stones range from 5 feet to 7 feet tall, the monoliths being between 9 feet and 10 feet.[2]
In the centre lie seven smaller blocks, which form a cove.[2]
One stone is partially upright; the rest are all lying down.[2] Although it is frequently stated that the stones have never stood upright, it is possible that they had originally been set upright in shallow stone holes.[3]
The stones are surrounded by an oval earthen bank, approximately 100 yards by 93 yards at the outside edges and six feet high, with an interior ditch being about six feet deep and between 23 feet and 33 feet wide. There are two causeway entrances breaching both the bank and ditch; the north-west one is 30 feet wide, and the south-south-east one is 20 feet wide. Within the bank lies an inner platform 170 feet by 130 feet in area.[2]
Few henge monuments in the British Isles are as well preserved. Arbor Low was one of the first ancient monuments to be given statutory protection, in the 1880s. Small monoliths engraved VR and GR (for Victoria Regina and Georgius Rex) still stand around the henge, demarcating the protected area.
Human remains
Human skeletal remains were discovered close to the central cove within the circle[2] during excavations between 1901 and 1902.[3]
Surrounding landscape
A large Bronze Age 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 and various grave goods which are now in Sheffield City Museum.[4]
Arbor Low is part of a larger complex, and is linked by an earth ridge to the earlier Neolithic oval barrow of Gib Hill 350 yards away.[5]
Construction and usage
The bank and ditch of the henge, as well as its two entrances, were likely established in the Late Neolithic period, with the stones added later, some time before 2000 BC. The site seems to have been in use until into the Bronze Age, which was when the outer bank was reconstructed so that the round barrow could be erected. Both the earthworks and the stoneworks are likely later than the nearby Gib Hill.[2]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Arbor Low) |
- Arbor Low Stone Circle and Gib Hill Barrow
- Location map: 53.16889 -1.76167
References
- National Heritage List 1011087: Arbor Low henge
Books
- Arbor Low: A Guide to the Monuments. Peak Park Joint Planning Bd.. May 1996. ISBN 0-907543-74-X.
- 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.
