Arminghall

Arminghall is a small village which lies approximately 2 miles south of Norwich. Most of the houses in the village are located close to the church near the B1332 road to Poringland. However, the village also stretches down into the valley of the River Tas.

It was close to the River Tas that, in 1929, the pilot Gilbert Insall noticed a circular pattern on the ground while flying overhead. Six years later the site was excavated and the earth markings turned out to be the remains of a large wooden henge monument. The henge dated from c.2500BC and measured 270 feet in diameter.

One night in 1983, while driving through the village, I experienced the strange sensation that a Neolithic man was standing close the site of the henge and I was inspired to write the following poem:
 

Arminghall Man

Across the crest of the moon-tugged hill
He stands and stares like half a hoop,
The effervescence reflected in his ape-wide eyes.
He has a clairvoyant’s brain under
The flattened back skull, above
The mammoth crag of jowl—
A brain that knows when it’s being watched.

Read complete poem

Links:

St. Mary's Church