Arbor Low
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Arbor Low is a late Neolithic henge monument, lying in the Derbyshire Peak District approximately three miles west of Youlgreave. It is the best-known prehistoric monument in the Peaks and was part of a wider Neolithic ritual landscape.
The Class II henge was built about 2500 BC and consists of a circular bank, 76m in diameter and 2.1m high, with an internal ditch around 9m wide and 1.8m deep, enclosing a central area. There are entrances causeways at the northern and southern ends. The stone circle inside consists of more than forty recumbent limestone slabs, with three lying in the very centre. These central stones form a 'cove' close to which a skeleton was found during excavations between 1901 and 1902. That the stones are lying flat rather than standing has been explained through the actions of zealous Christians toppling them or simply that time and subsidence caused them to fall over. A large round cairn was built later in prehistory 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.
Arbor Low is part of a larger complex, and is linked to the Bronze Age barrow of Gib Hill 320m away by an earth ridge.