Hartington - by Daniel and Samuel Lysons, 1817

Transcription by Barbarann AYARS © 2000
[Lyson's Magna Britannia Vol 5: Derbyshire, page 174-176]

HARTINGTON, in the wapentake of Wirksworth, and in the deanery of Ashborne, lies about ten miles from Ashborne. The parish is divided into four quarters or liberties, Hartington town, the lower quarter, the middle quarter, which is the chaplry of Earls-Sterndale, and the upper quarter. The principal villages in the parish are, Biggin, Brandside, Crankston, Crowdecote, Foxlow, Heathcote, and High-Needham.

A market at Hartington on Wednesdays and a fair for three days, at the festival of St. Giles, were granted to William Ferrars, Earl of Derby, about the year 1203. The market has long ago been discontinued. There are now two fairs held at Newhaven in the parish, the second Tuesday in September and October 30, for horned cattle, sheep, and all kinds of hardware.The last mentioned is said to be the most celebrated holiday in the county.

The manor of Hartington belonged to the noble famly of Ferrars. On the attainder of Robert de Ferrars, Earl of Derby, it was granted to Edmund Earl of Lancaster, who had a capital mansion or castle at Hartington in the reign of Edw. I. The manor continued to be annexed to the Earldom and Duchy of Lancaster until the year 1603, when it was granted by King James to Sir George Hume, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Having reverted to the Crown, it was granted by the same monarch, in 1617, to Sir. George Villiers. In the year 1663 it was purchased of the Duke of Buckingham by William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire, and is now the property of his descendant the present Duke of Devonshire. The Duke is by far the greatest land-proprietor in this extensive parish; and among other estates, is possesed of Biggin-Grange, which had been given to the monks of Gerondon by the Ferrars family; the manor or grange of Pilsbury and Cronkston-Grange, which had been given by the same family to the abbey of Merivale in Warwickshire, and had been granted to George Earl of Shrewsbury; the manor of Foxlow which had belonged to the family of Lovell, and Cotes-Grange, which had been granted by Henry VIII to George Cotton.

When William Earl of Devonshire was created a Duke, he took his second title of Marquis of Hartington from this place.

Hartington Hall was the property and residence of the Bateman family in the early part of the 16th c. The estate now belongs to their descendant, Sir Hugh Bateman, Bart. The hall is occupied as a farm house.

A Capital messuage and estate at Hurdlow belonged for several generations to the family of Brereton, one of whose co-heiresses, about the year 1681, brought it to the family of Swan. The daughter of a descendant married Wm. Bullock, MD, whose son, Mr. John Bullock, is the present proprietor. Sir Thoms Fletcher, Bart., and Sir John Edensore Heathcote have considerable estates in this parish.

In the parish church of Hartington, are memorials of Richard Bateman, Gent., 1731, and William Wardle of Staffordshire, the last of his name and family, 1770.

The church of Hartington belonged to the Minoresses of London, most probably by the gift of one of the earls of Lancaster.

When Hartington Commons was enclosed in 1798, the late Earl Beauchamp, then William Lygon, Esq., being impropriator of the great tithes had an allottment in lieu of them, which allotment he afterwards sold to Sir Hugh Bateman, Bart. In the right of the rectorial estate, Sir Hugh is a patron of the Deanery of Hartington.The Dean has the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the parish, the probate of the wills, etc., it being exempt from the authority of the Bishop and the Archdeacon. The Duke of Devonshire is patron of the vicarage.

There is a chapel of ease at Earls-Sterndale, the minister of which is appointed by the vicar.

At Hartington is a charity school, supported by a subscription to which the Duke of Devonshire gives five pounds per annum.

[From Lysons Topographical and Historical Account of Derbyshire, 1817.
Transcription kindly donated by Barbarann AYARS, 31st Dec 2000]