Hartington

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 53.13
longitude= -1.82
official_name= Hartington
map_type= Derbyshire
population =
shire_district= Derbyshire Dales
shire_county = Derbyshire
region= East Midlands
constituency_westminster= West Derbyshire
post_town= BUXTON
postcode_district = SK17
postcode_area= SK
dial_code= 01298
os_grid_reference=

Hartington is a village in the Derbyshire Peak District, England, lying on the River Dove. According to the 2001 census the parish of Hartington Town Quarter, which also includes Pilsbury had a population of 345. Formerly known for the mining of ironstone, limestone and lead, the village is now known for cheese-making (Hartington Blue Stilton) and tourism.

Architecture

Notable buildings in the village include: the market hall (formerly the site of a market); the 13th century parish church of Saint Giles; and 17th century Hartington Hall. A prominent house in the centre of the village, featured in the above photo, is Bank House, built by the former village mill owner and in the past used as the village bank. A half-mile to the south of the village, on the Dove, is the fishing house of the famous angler Charles Cotton. In the north of the village is [http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks/walk_b/1042/ Pilsbury Castle] , an 11th century motte-and-bailey castle, that survives only as an earthwork.

Near Hartington is the finest neolithic stone circle in the Peak District, Arbor Low. There are numerous ancient tumuli and cairns in the landscape around Hartington, probably dating from the Bronze Age.

Attractions

The village has a youth hostel at Hartington Hall, which serves two major National Cycle Network routes; the Tissington Trail and the High Peak Trail, which meet at nearby Parsley Hay. These trails pass just under one mile to the east of the village, and offer 30 miles of off-road cycling and walking along old railway trackbeds through the Peak District National Park. Hartington signal box, on the site of the former Hartington railway station, and nearly two miles distant from the village, has been renovated and converted to a Visitor Centre.

A little south of the village, overlooking the Dove, stands Wolfscote Hill (388m at gbmapping|SK137583), a good viewpoint, now in the care of the National Trust.

Three miles to the south-west lies the small settlement of Hulme End, which marks the northern starting point of the Manifold Way, an 8 mile tarmaced walk- and cycle-route following the route of the former Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway.

History

Hartington was mentioned in the Domesday book as belonging to Henry de Ferrers and being worth forty shillings"Domesday Book: A Complete Translation". London: Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0-14-143994-7 p.745] . The parish was originally quite large, and part of the hundred of Wirksworth. Hartington had four townships, known as the Town Quarter, Nether Quarter, and Middle Quarter, and Upper Quarter, which are now all separate parishes. These became separate civil parishes in their own right in 1866 [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk Vision of Britain site] ] . They are marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

Notable residents

*James F. Redfern sculptor, was born here in 1838

References

External links

* [http://www.francisfrith.com/archive/england/derbyshire/hartington/hartington.htm Francis Frith's photographs of Hartington] in the 1950s.
* [http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/DBY/BygoneIndustries/CheeseMaking.html Cheese Making in the Peak] & [http://www.hartingtoncheese.com/ Hartington Cheese] .
* [http://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/hostelpages/53.html Hartington Hall Youth Hostel]