High up in the Derbyshire Peak District on Middleton Moor  'the Stonehenge of the North', Arbor Low is the most important monument in this area. The area itself is rich in prehistoric remains, there are many round barrows in the surrounding fields as well as a later Roman road that runs northwest to southeast about 500 metres to the west.
The henge is huge with the bank having an outer diameter of between 85 and 90 metres and originally standing to a height of about 3 metres and being 8 to 10 metres wide, there is a later round barrow partly built on the eastern side of the bank. Cutting through the bank were wide entrances to the northwest and southeast which makes this a Class II henge and there is evidence that these entrances could once have been flanked by portal stones. Within the outer bank is a 2 metre deep steep sided ditch which varies from 7 to 12 metres in width and which would have required the removal of some 4000 tons of limestone, here the entrances continue as causeways over the ditch. The central plateau measures roughly 40 metres to 50 metres wide and contains a rough oval of 50 fallen and broken heavily eroded limestone blocks - it is thought that there were originally about 40 stones, the breakage of some of the blocks leading to the increased number seen today. The tallest stones which were close to the entrances would have stood 3 metres tall with the heights of others decreasing to about 1 metre. Although some people have claimed the stones never stood upright, it seems more probable that they simply fell due to being placed in sockets that were too shallow - the possibility that any remaining uprights were pushed over or smashed in historic times by over zealous Christians or superstitious locals also cannot be ruled out.
At the centre of the circle was a rectangular or horseshoe setting of stones. This cove consisted of at least 6 stones and those that believe it to have formed a horseshoe shape suggest that the open end would have faced a midsummer moon setting to the south-southwest. There have been many finds from Arbor Low which has been subject to several excavations over the last 150 years and possibly earlier, these include cremations as well as many flint, bone and antler tools and pots.
A short distance away to the southwest, and linked by a low earth avenue, is Gib Hill, a 5 metre high Bronze Age mound and burial cist that contained an urn and cremation, which was built onto an earlier Neolithic oval barrow. The name Gib Hill comes from the fact that a gallows stood on the mound in the 18th century.

Glossary Items: Neolithic, Bronze Age, Stone Circle