HOME | PEAK DISTRICT COTTAGES | PEAK DISTRICT B&B | PEAK DISTRICT HOTELS

Peak District Tourist Information Search
HOME | More Peak District Tourist Information...

Hartington
Click images to enlarge

106_hartington-duck-pond.jpg
Hartington and its duck pond

106_hartington-street-scene2.jpg
Devonshire Arms and street scene, Hartington

106_hartington-well-dressing.jpg
Well dressing at Hartington

106_hartington-cheese-shop.jpg
Hartington is famous for its Stilton cheese

106_hartington-street-scene.jpg
Explore the narrow streets of Hartington

106_hartington-church-cottages.jpg
St Giles church, Hartington

106_hartington-beresford-dale.jpg
The hills above Beresford Dale, Hartington

Location: Hartington
County: Derbyshire
Telephone - please mention Let's Stay Peak District: + 44 (0)1298 25106 (Buxton tourist information). To advertise on our Hartington pages - please call 01246 828833
Send email: Click here to enquire about advertising on our Hartington pages
Website: http://www.peakdistrict-nationalpark.com/tourist/Hartington.html

Area Guides:
Hartington


Details: Welcome to the Let's Stay Hartington Holiday guide -featuring holiday accommodation listings for the village including hotels, pubs, holiday cottages, b&b, campsites and more - plus general tourist information and village guide. Don't just visit Hartington. Stay!

Hartington holiday accommodation
Check out the Hartington holiday accommodation listings - please click here

Advertise your Hartington holiday accommodation on this website
To find out more about advertising your holiday accommodation or tourism business on our Hartington Holiday guide pages - call Mike on 01246 828833 or email us using the link above.


HARTINGTON HISTORY & VILLAGE GUIDE
Tom Bates ventures to the far western edge of the county to explore this picturesque village.

Hartington lies to the west of the A51 Ashbourne-to-Buxton road, nestling sedately in the heart of magnificent limestone scenery on the Derbyshire side of the River Dove, which forms the border with neighbouring Staffordshire.

Known as 'The Gateway to Dovedale' this most picturesque of White Peak villages boasts a wealth of attractions, and is famous for its Stilton cheese; indeed it held a Royal Warrant during the reign of George V for supplying the King's Stilton.

Cheese-making, farming, and the tourist industry drive the village's economy, and this is evidenced by an array of retail establishments which surround the former market square, and the duckpond in the centre of the village green.

With the exception of Derby and Chesterfield, Hartington was the first in the County to be granted a market charter when William de Ferrers, Earl of Derby and lord of the manor of Hartington was granted a Royal Charter in 1203 to hold a weekly market and an annual fair.

These lasted for almost 700 years until, sadly, both declined around the turn of this century.
The architecture which surrounds the village centre is an indigenous mixture of large, late-18th- and early-19th-century buildings, and the smaller cottages of an earlier and more rustic period, achieving a pleasant balance and harmony.

The one notable exception to the limestone and gritstone buildings is the 13th-century parish church of St.Giles; this commands the village from atop a small hill to the north-east, where its imposing battlemented square tower of red ashlar sandstone stands proudly overlooking the rooftops.

In June 1651, during the Civil War, a group of Royalists was surprised and defeated on Hartington Moor by Roundheads, but a few escaped and fled into the village where the fighting continued in the churchyard, and some of the Royalists barricaded themselves inside the church. A legacy of this battle is 'Bloody Bones Barn' which stands in a lane nearby.

Hartington Hall was originally built around 1350 for the nuns of St.Clair, but the present hall was built by Thomas Bateman in 1611 and renovated by his descendants in 1860. It’s a typical three-gabled Derbyshire manor house, and the Bateman family occupied it for over 500 years until it became a youth hostel in 1934. A Bateman fought at Agincourt, and his chain mail glove was displayed, until it was recently stolen, in a glass case inside the church.

Nearby are the ruins of Beresford Hall, Charles Cotton's birthplace and former home which was demolished in 1858; his famous Fishing House which featured in Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler still stands beside the Dove in Beresford Dale. The village square was once known as St Anthony’s Square; The Devonshire Arms was once a coaching inn known as the Waggon and Horses, and the Charles Cotton Hotel opposite was originally a farmhouse owned by the Sleigh family.

The first cottage on the left opposite the duckpond once housed the village constabulary, and the Milton House Hotel next door was a former 18th-century silk mill built by Thomas Cantrell. It afterwards became the village workhouse. In 1777 Cantrell also built for his workers the little row of quaint cottages which stands opposite.

The Corner House Cafe was built by a village saddlemaker named Stone who once plied his trade there, and the Dales Cafe was the original site of the village's first post office.

The Old School House in Church Street was built by Richard Edensor of Watergap Farm in 1758 and features one of the finest examples of a traditional Peakland stone slate roof to be found in the county. The school closed in 1866, and was replaced by a National School which still forms the nucleus of the present enlarged school for the younger children of Hartington.

Another notable building is the Old Vicarage built by the 5th Duke of Devonshire for the manager of his copper mines at Ecton. In the 1870’s the 7th Duke built a cheese factory on Mill Lane which produced Derby cheese in a co-operative venture. The Cavendish family's connection with the village began in the 17th-century when they bought the Manor, and the courtesy title of Marquis of Hartington was given to the Duke's eldest son.

Standing opposite the Old Vicarage is the Drill Hall, also built by the Duke of Devonshire for the Hartington and Dove Valley section of his Rifle Volunteers. It now boasts the grand title of the Royal Cavendish British Legion Hall. Hartington has been home to some notable people: William Smith, a village craftsman made the W.G.Grace Memorial Gates at Lord's cricket ground, and the Spa bandstand at Scarborough.

Frank Redfern (1838-76) was a talented sculptor who was brought up in the village, and later moved to London where he worked on the Albert Memorial. Examples of his work can also be seen in the cathedrals of Salisbury, Bristol, Ely and Gloucester. John Oliver was born in Church View Cottage in 1856, the son of a local lead miner. When the mine closed in 1870 the family emigrated to Canada where John worked as a navvy on the Canadian Pacific Railway before becoming a farmer and then a politician.

He became Prime Minister of British Columbia in 1921, a post he held until his death in 1927.
Another famous resident was Prince Obelenski, the Russian nobleman who played rugby for England and scored two tries in a match against the New Zealand All Blacks. Prince and Princess Obelenski had fled Russia during the 1917 revolution and lived for a time at Dove Cottage.

In 1926 the Perry family built and opened the Silent Picture House, which later became the Amusement Hall before eventually being purchased by the village in the early 1940's and becoming the Village Hall. Hartington is much changed over the years and today caters mainly for the visitor to its picturesque environs; it’s well worth a visit with its collection of cafes, tea-rooms, gift and craft shops; its famous cheeses and its pottery.

Set in the heart of beautiful limestone walking country, this quaint and ever-popular village provides a veritable oasis of rest and refreshment for the thousands who come each year to walk the Tissington Trail and to explore the wonderful dales of the Dove.

HARTINGTON WRITERS WANTED
Enjoy writing? Looking for an extra hobby? Live near or in Hartington?
Interested in writing about Hartington or helping us keep up to date with information about your village including events, walks, pub news - in fact anything of interest about Hartington!
- If it's good enough, interesting or useful - Let's Stay Peak District will consider publishing it free of charge..so why not contact us for more information and help spread the word about your village?

Call Mike on 01246 828833




(id: '106') This listing has been viewed 2581 times

Another Peak District Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay Peak District - Tel: 01629 640 640.