The Bull Ring

The Bull Ring stands on a low rise near Dove Holes in the Peak District of Derbyshire. It is a Neolithic henge, a circular earthwork built about 5,000 years ago. The site has a wide ditch inside a bank, with entrances on the north and south. Two burial mounds lie about twenty metres away, one oval and one bowl-shaped. The henge once measured two metres high, but centuries of ploughing and quarrying have lowered it to about one metre. Archaeologists have found pottery and flint tools at the site. Excavations in 1902, 1949 and 1984 uncovered sherds, flakes and stakeholes. A single standing stone was recorded in 1789, but no trace of a stone circle remains today. The barrows nearby were built in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. A skeleton was reportedly found near the north entrance long ago. Visitors walk a grassy circle surrounded by a low bank and shallow ditch. The oval barrow rises gently to the south-west, with the bowl barrow on top. The land is quiet, with wide views over the surrounding farmland. A drystone wall once crossed the site but has been removed. The henge’s entrances still mark the north and south points of the circle.