Monument

Available for over a year

Rose Ferraby concludes this series of EarthWorks with a visit to a monumental Neolithic henge: Arbor Low in Derbyshire. Although it’s hard to know exactly what went on at these henges when they were built, we do know that they were places of communal gathering. It remains a dramatic feature within a ceremonial landscape, attracting people then and now. Rose reflects on the making and meaning of such a place, how community was cemented as a result of constructing the henge together. At a time when small groups shifted around the landscape with their animals, following cycles of seasons, such monuments seem to have provided the solid, static points at which to come together, allowing for rare moments of congregation. In the present, it continues to draw people in, its solid stones somehow creating a sense of firm grounding for the future. Produced by Mark Smalley A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3