Arbor Low - The Stonehenge of the North

Today we ventured to Arbor Low. Arbor Low is a henge (stone circle) which was constructed in the Neolithic period (around 2,500 BC). It is the largest stone circle in Northern England & is described as 'The Stonehenge of the North', hence the title.

Arbor Low is set high on the moorlands & consists of around 50 large limestone slabs, surrounding a central cove.

All of the stones are lying flat & no one knows with absolute certainty why. It is possible that they were constructed in this way, or another theory is that early Christians laid them flat to 'de-sanctify' the site.

The site lies 375m above sea level & though we were armed with this knowledge, we were still not prepared for the bitter, vengeful icy wind up there. I lost feeling in my favoured 'shutter' finger after a few minutes & I can say with certainty that it is not the kind of place you want to be planning a picnic when the weather is anything less than glorious sunshine.

After the visit to Arbor Low, we took our frozen bodies & scuttled off to the relative warmth of Bakewell for a bite to eat. After that, we our way to the cinema to see the latest collaboration of Paul Greengrass & Matt Damon, The Green Zone.

The image shows the henge from a different angle & is not the usual view overlooking the entire site. To get a clearer impression of how the full circle looks & for more information about Arbor Low, you can visit this website.