Arbor Low is possibly the most important prehistoric site in Derbyshire, it is surrounded by unspoiled countryside with fantastic views over the now classic Derbyshire scenery, it is not hard to image when visiting the area that one is far away from modern life, although the area around Arbor Low and Gib Hill is now open pasture land grazed by sheep and cattle, it is likely that the views you can see from the top of Arbor Low would have been more obscured in pre - history due to the clearance of many of the trees for grazing land, The site is similar in some ways to Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire, and is easily as important and unique, it is for this reason that it is referred to as the 'Stonehenge of the Peak '.

Within an earthen bank and ditch, a circle of some 50 white limestone slabs, all now fallen, surrounds a central stone 'cove' - a feature found only in major sacred sites. Nearby is enigmatic Gib Hill, a large burial mound. It is thought that Arbor Low dates to the Neolithic / Early Bronze Age period, and the surrounding landscape is littered with barrows from the Late Bronze Age, that were constructed at least a thousand years after the henge itself was completed. One of these barrows was incorporated into the henge bank, and the largest barrow (known as Gib Hill), is only a short walk away towards the South. The site was last excavated from 1901 - 1902 when a human burial was discovered close to the stones but there were no other major discoveries. There were several earlier excavations at the site; in 1845 Thomas Bateman excavated the tumulus attached to the bank, and three years later he led an excavation at Gib Hill.

Gib Hill is worth mentioning as a site in itself, and takes its name from its use as a hanging hill for a local murderer. The mound is one of the most impressive late Bronze Age barrows in the area, standing at around 16 feet in height even after early destructive excavation, these excavations revealed a stone cist, which contained a small clay urn and charred human bones, The geology of the area which formed the Limestone suggests that this was a shallow sea and you can see evidence of this in nearby Monyash at the Church and the local Pub (The Bulls Head) with many fossils in the pathways and steps.