Toponymy The name Hartington possibly derived from an Anglo Saxon farmer Heorta in the 6th century, and later became Hortedun when recorded in the 1086
Domesday survey. It was in medieval times an extensive parish, and was divided into four
townships, with Hartington Middle Quarter centred on Earl Sterndale, becoming a church parish and later a standalone civil parish in 1873.
Parish and environment The area is rich in historical remains, prehistoric examples including caves with occupational evidence dating from 500000BC such as at Etches near Dowel farm and from 40000BC at Fox Hole. There are several Middle or Late
Neolithic period (4000 BC to 2351 BC) and
Bronze Age (2350 BC to 701 BC) finds such as a stone
axe within High Needham farm, a flint axe at Parsley Hay a bronze axe from Chrome Hill, and an arrowhead with several being placed in Buxton Museum. There are some barrows and cairns throughout the area typically dating from the Bronze Era, such as at Hindlow, close to High Edge, and at Glutton Hill, although a number of others have since been destroyed by later mining and quarrying. An iron knife was found in one of the excavated mounds, with a second burial dated approximately between the 1st to 7th century AD. Later evidence during the
Roman Britain occupation period (43 AD to 409 AD) include a possible settlement in Dowel Dale, and a road from Derby to Buxton which ran in the east of the parish by Parsley Hay, which was close to and parallel to the present day A515 road. The Middle Quarter area was a part of the wider Hartington parish and manor, which was reported in 1066 at the time of the
Norman invasion by
William the Conqueror as under the ownership of Godwin of
Tissington and
Ligulf. Another place, Soham or Salham had also been recorded in Domesday, and was thought to have been in the vicinity of Earl Sterndale. Both were described as 'waste' with no value. By the time of the survey both manors had been granted to
Henry de Ferrers as part of the wider Derbyshire holdings under the Honour of Duffield. There were subsequent improvements by the Ferrers to the manors such that in 1204 a market and fair had been allowed to take place at Hartington, being one of the first in Derbyshire. Also, there was growth throughout the outlying area; in 1244 on public record was details of the surrounding hamlets that had since sprung up, in what would become the Middle Quarter were listed Stenredile (Earl Sterndale), Crudecote (Crowdecote), Salvin (Salham), Nedham (High Needham), and Hordlawe (Hurdlow). Others mentioned at the same time included nearby Buckstanes (Buxton). The same records also outlined an area around the 'forest of Hertingdone and Crudecotes up to the water of
Goyt' which was not a true forested area, but a hunting area used by the earls called the Frith, and adjacent to the royal
Forest of High Peak. The manor and settlements were held by descendants until 1266 when
Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby rebelled against
Henry III and, after a defeat at the
Battle of Chesterfield, lost his lands and titles. The ownership was granted to
Edmund Crouchback, royal prince and
Earl of Lancaster. In 1399 the manor was merged back into wider
Crown holdings. In 1603 it was given to Sir
George Hume but on his death in 1611 the holdings reverted to
James I, who requested in 1614 a survey of the manor and the landholdings by William Heyward, including Earl Sterndale. In 1617 Hartington was again granted away, this time to
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. In 1663,
William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire bought the manor which was held by his descendants until the 20th century. The Hartington parish was a sprawling area covering some 24,000 acres and one of the largest in the country, spanning some in length, and up to in width. It was split into
townships by the 16th century for easier administration, It was described by the
Parliamentary Survey of Livings, undertaken in 1650, reporting on Hartington and particularly the Middle Quarter: "It is a parish and vicarage of large extent, usually divided into four quarters. The two neather quarters are thought fitt to be continued to ye parish churche. The whole vicarage is worth £19 10s., whereof £10 aryseth out of the gleabe and the two neather quarters. Earl Sterndall is a
chapel of ease in the parish of Hartington, a member of the middle quarter, which is thought fitt to be made a parish church, and these hamletts of middle quarter, Harlee, Glutton, Doewall, Crowdicoate, Wheeldontrees, Needham Graunge, Hurdlow, Cronkston, and Sterndale, £2." It is thought that Hurdlow and Needham were more substantial settlements which shrunk in later medieval times and the areas repurposed for farming. the placename predates those events, being Glotonhous in the 15th century. Abbot's Grove is to the south of Earl Sterndale, it was built atop an earlier residence used by abbots when they were visiting monastery granges, During the 1850s, it was also the location of the local
tannery. and for some centuries at Pilsbury Grange in neighbouring Hartington Town Quarter. Hartington Middle Quarter held a workhouse in the 18th century housing 70 inmates, but the management was taken over by Bakewell
poor law union in 1834 and a purpose built site erected in Bakewell. A school was built in the grounds of the St Michael's chapel in 1850, while the Wesleyan church was also built in the same year. To serve as a memory to those from the parish who served in the World War I conflict but did not return, a village hall was built using local contributions at Pomeroy in 1921. It was used for various local functions, celebrations and held regular Sunday School sessions regularly until the 1980s. It then fell into disuse, instead becoming a storage location for kit used by a local drama society. A trio of
pillbox defences were built during World War II in the High Edge and surrounding area, with two of those within the parish, and installed close to or atop cairns which were affected by their construction. A German raid on an ammunition dump in
Harpur Hill near Buxton in January 1941 was conducted over a wider area, with the bombs falling into the north of the parish and Earl Sterndale area. Although much fell into open countryside, some of those struck barns and outbuildings. The St Michaels' church at Earl Sterndale was also hit, but the registers and
communion plate were saved before it burnt down completely, giving it the unenviable distinction of being the only church in Derbyshire destroyed during World War II. It was rebuilt in 1952. Earl Sterndale suffered badly in the aftermath of the
1947 winter, becoming cut off from the wider country for seven weeks by the snow drifts.
Industry Although it's unknown how the Hartington and Soham manors were used from an agricultural perspective during prehistoric times to after the Romans, by the time of Domesday were considered to be little more than waste. There were enhancements by the Ferrers to the manors except for the hunting area in the north, but also due to
Robert de Ferrers, 2nd Earl of Derby being a great benefactor, founding
Merevale Abbey,
Warwickshire in 1148 for the
Cistercian monks, and endowing it with land grants from his estates in Hartington, where there was much unused land. In the Middle Quarter, Merevale was given land at Cronkston and Pilsbury for the establishment of
granges, while at Cotefield another was established by
Combermere Abbey in
Cheshire. These helped establishing villages such as Earl Sterndale which was only first recorded in 1244, so that labour to tend to the land was nearby and readily available.
Open field methods of farming was more commonplace around Hartington and Earl Sterndale, where arable land was rented out in strips to
villeins, who in turn paid rent, fines for breaches in field maintenance, and rendered certain labour services to the lord of the manor. Some arable land was held in
demesne, being farmed directly by servants of the lord. Demesne farming included the rearing of sheep, mainly for wool, but over time pastoral farming was more productive than arable. The Cistercians were particularly adept at taking advantage of the trade in selling wool once it became more in demand from the continent in the 13th century, exporting it via ports such as Huil in East Riding of Yorkshire. Later risks in supply, and labour shortages from the Black Death caused the monks to begin leasing their lands to tenants, which continued until the
Dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.
Lead mining was known in the wider area since at least Roman Britain times, with later records of a grant from
William de Ferrers in 1171 to lands surrounding Cotefield Grange, along with a lead mine which was described as old even in that charter. A resurgence of activities took place in the 17th century throughout Hartington parish, much of the output was in the Upper Quarter area near Buxton, but the Middle Quarter also had some mining on a smaller scale, with pits in the Frith, Upper Edge, Chrome Hill, Earl Sterndale, High Needham, Crowdecote, Wheeldon Trees, Cronkstone and Parsley Hay, Corn milling was recorded locally; it was first mentioned in Duchy of Lancaster accounts of 1434-1435 when a mill on the River Dove at Crowdecote was granted to John Pole on a ten-year lease. The mill was leased by ancestors of Nat Gould in the 17th century, With the widespread rearing of cattle, in the 1870s a creamery was opened in Glutton to process the output of this produce. The factory was close to Glutton Bridge, southwest of Hitter Hill. It became well known for its dairy products, particularly
Wensleydale cheese for
Express Dairies. The facility closed in the 1960s. Local occupations recorded in early 19th century censuses included a tannery at Abbot's Grove in Earl Sterndale,
Former railways and stations The
Cromford and High Peak Railway was built through the area, reaching Hurdlow in 1830. Two stations were opened for handling goods,
Parsley Hay and
Hurdlow both in 1833, and eventually catering to passengers from 1833 until 1877. The
Ashbourne Line was joined to this, just south of Parsley Hay in 1899. Traffic – by this time almost exclusively from local quarries, with a handful of day trip excursions – was slowly decreasing during the
Beeching era, and the first section of the line was closed in 1963. The rest of the line was fully closed in spring 1967 with the portion of the line within the parish converted into the
High Peak Trail, and the station locations becoming stop-off points for the walking route. == Governance and demography ==