Distance: 11.2 miles
Difficulty of the terrain: hard
Get the route via: Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
Walk in the heart of Derbyshire’s White Peak from Bakewell to Hartington via the Arbor Low Neolithic stone circle which sits inside one of the UK’s best preserved prehistoric henges.
The Story
The Walk
Getting Back
Amongst the Country’s Best Preserved Prehistoric Henges
Situated near the heart of the White Peak in Derbyshire Arbor Low is considered to be one of the UK’s best preserved henge type prehistoric religious or ritual sites.
Like most of the Midlands best known prehistoric megaliths, including: the Nine Ladies (also in the Derbyshire Peak District), Mitchell’s Fold in Shropshire, and the King’s Stone which comprises part of the Rollright Stones assemblage in the Warwickshire Cotswolds, Arbor Low sits on the edge of the region. Not too far from where the Midlands converges with North England.
It is thought that Arbor Low dates back to the neolithic period, when the British Isles’ human inhabitants first began having a significant impact upon the landscape through engaging in farming activity, but before the advent of metalworking. The expert consensus is that the henge enclosure, still clearly visible today, was erected first, and that the locally quarried limestone megaliths were placed inside it prior to 2000 BCE.
Debate will rage eternally about what the precise use and purpose of Arbor Low was. When an excavation was conducted at the site between 1901 and 1902, human remains were uncovered, suggesting that it may at some stage have had a funerary or mortuary purpose. A key debate is whether the stones inside the henge ever stood upright or whether they have always lain face down. Unlike many other stone circles, while several of the blocks inside the Arbor Low henge are now fragmented, it is thought that all of the original stones remain in situ in one form or another.
In addition to the henge and the stones arrayed inside the enclosure, a barrow, thought to predate Arbor Low by generations, stands slightly to the west. It is known as the Gib Hill Barrow and looks out across a dramatically hilly vista, whereas Arbor Low has a commanding view of the flatter part of the White Peak plateau.
The Gib Hill Barrow was later augmented during the Bronze Age by a further burial of the cist kind which was placed in a smaller secondary barrow on-top. Unfortunately an exploratory dig by the antiquarian Thomas Bateman in 1848, accidentally completely destroyed this newer structure, irrevocably altering the site. Although some traces of the later addition to the barrow remain visible.
Like several other Midlands stone circles Arbor Low has been a statutorily protected site for about as long as they have existed in the UK. It remains on private land, albeit freely accessible, along good paths with interpretation boards. The farmer whose house and yard stand just down the hill from the henge levies a one pound charge (payable only in cash as of June 2025) upon adults visiting the site via an honesty box system with children entering for free.
The Walk
Get the route: via Ordnance Survey Maps or download the GPX. file from Dropbox
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This circular walk from the bus stops in Bakewell town centre to Hartington via the atmospheric and much mythologised Arbor Low prehistoric stone circle and henge begins just down from the roundabout in the middle of Bakewell near the Rutland Hotel.
Walk towards the Rutland Hotel and cross the A6 road which runs north west out of Bakewell towards Buxton, Stockport and Manchester.
Here to the right of the Rutland Hotel there is a residential road running uphill towards Bakewell’s distinctive All Saints Parish Church.
At the bottom of the churchyard on your left there is a path running off to the left. Cross over the road and head up this path.
Upon reaching this path and entering the churchyard follow it straight uphill past the church.
Just beyond the church you reach the top of the churchyard and step through a limestone archway out onto a quiet lane.
Once on this lane turn left and walk down hill towards the B5055.
Upon reaching the road turn right and walk uphill along a pavement through a residential area.
Soon on the left hand side of the road you see a quiet lane lined with old houses. Cross over the B5055 and head down this lane.
Look out on the right as you walk for a steep flight of steps leading uphill.
At the top of the steps walk straight ahead along a tarmac track through a small estate of mid-20th Century bungalows.
This soon turns into a snicket which has an old stone stile – probably to stop mopeds – part way along it.
Carry on straight along a quiet road through an estate of modern houses.
Soon you come to a tarmac footpath which you walk along for some distance.
Presently you reach the side of a road right on the edge of Bakewell. Cross over here and head back a snicket between a school and some dog kennels heading for open countryside.
At the bottom of the snicket you come to a gateway out onto a field. Walk straight across the field on the far side making for an old stile in the distinctive very narrow Peak District style.
Once over the stile walk straight across the field on the far side making for a metal gate.
Next to the metal gate there is a wooden footgate which you walk through. On the far side turn sharply to the left walking along the line of a fence and a hedgerow.
Walk straight ahead for quite some distance.
Presently you approach a drystone wall. Upon nearing the wall, turn sharply to the left and walk uphill.
Here there is a gateway into an adjoining field. Walk through the gateway then take a well defined path running to the left, up a shallow wold like dale.
Follow this path uphill for quite some distance. It runs very close to the edge of the field demarcated by a hedgerow and drystone wall.
Nearing the top of the hill there is a wooden gate on your left. Walk through this gate and straight across a narrow field on the far side until you reach a corresponding gate which you pass through.
On the far side of the gate walk uphill along a short stretch of path towards the side of a country road.
Once on the side of the road turn left and begin walking along the road towards the village of Over Haddon. Take care as while visibility is good, drivers and cyclists can travel quite fast.
Upon reaching Over Haddon head to the village’s high street which lies off the main road. Turn right and walk along the high street approaching the village’s car park and public toilets.
Here pick up the steep road which descends to the bottom of Lathkill Dale.
At the bottom of the dale you reach an old stone cottage, where you head through a gate and pick up a footpath running through trees beside the River Lathkill.
The path is initially well made and runs along the thickly wooded bottom of the dale.
Higher up the dale the path remains well trod, but is more uneven. This part of the dale is more dramatic in terms of its visible limestone formations.
All along the dale both the river and the rock walls of the deep valley bear signs of the area’s historically heavy mining and quarrying activity.
Near the top of the dale you reach a wooden bridge across the Lathkill. Cross the river here and head up the well worn path ascending a ravine called Cales Dale running uphill.
Soon you join the Limestone Way long distance footpath and ascend to reach a large farm yard.
Upon reaching this farm you leave the Limestone Way and pick up a driveway which runs uphill from the farm towards the road from the A515 at Parsley Hay to Bakewell. Before you reach it, footpath waymarks direct you to the right across a patchwork of meadows.
On reaching the road, taking care, because cars and a large number of lorries use the road at speed, turn right.
After some distance on your right you reach the signpost pointing up a farm driveway to where the Arbor Low stone circle inside its henge, and the older Gib Hill Barrow, lie.
Having visited the prehistoric remains at Arbor Low return to the road, and head left, carrying on along the road to Parsley Hay.
Parsley Hay is a tiny hamlet, and a former railway junction where the Ashbourne Line met the High Peak and Cromford Railway, prior to their closures in 1967. Since the early 1970s they have been the High Peak and Tissington Trails, used by cyclists, walkers and equestrians alike.
Upon reaching the trail beside a cycle hire shop and cafe turn left, heading south.
Soon you reach the former junction, and take the right hand fork, passing through a mighty cleft dynamited in the rock in the 1890s when the railway was built, heading south along the former Ashbourne line.
After a couple of miles you reach the former Hartington Station. This is some distance from the village. Here continue a little way until you reach a gate on the right which you exit the trail from.
Follow the path across the fields to the small village of Heathcote, which is just east of Hartington.
Once on the main road through Heathcote continue walking towards the eastern end of the village where a waymark directs you to the right and across a farmyard.
Behind the farm sheds there is a little campsite with spectacular views. Pick up a path running downhill across a meadow.
At the bottom of the meadow you cross a quiet lane and pick up a bridleway heading right.
Follow the bridleway until you reach the road running down into Hartington.
Once on the road turn left, walking past the village’s large YHA, heading downhill to the village centre.
On reaching the green where the village’s bus stop is situated you arrive at the end of the walk.
Getting Back
From the centre of Bakewell (at the time of writing in June 2024) there are frequent buses throughout the day, every day of the week but less frequent and finishing earlier on Sundays, south towards Derby, via Matlock, Cromford and Belper (where there are stations) with some buses also going via Wirksworth towards Derby. There are also buses west to Buxton (which has a station on the line north towards Manchester) and east to Chesterfield town centre and railway station. There is also a northeasterly bus to Sheffield, which stops at both the bus and railway stations. There are less frequent local services serving other Derbyshire locations and villages throughout the Peak District.