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Hartington is unusual for the county in that the small town is built around a very large spacious square of a kind more often found much further south in the country. This, together with the mellow, fawn stone buildings, lends Hartington a Georgian grace not often seen in Derbyshire's hill country.
Around this 'market place' are many 18th and 19th century limestone cottages, and on one side a market hall built in 1820.
The Charles Cotton Hotel commemorates the 17th century poet who lived at nearby Beresford Hall. He and Izaak Walton, author of 'The Compleat Angler', used to fish in the Dove Valley, and in Beresford Dale. About a mile to the south, is the fishing lodge built by Cotton in 1674. It is a stone-single roomed building with a pyramid-roof and is now known as The Fishing Temple.
Overlooking the town stands the Church of St Giles, built in red sandstone and with a sturdy tower, battlements and a curious collection of gargoyles. The church stands behind the square and is late 13th century. A stone coffin in the south transept has the carved head and shoulders of a 13th century lady on its lid.
Hartington Hall, a gabled manor house of 1611, is on high ground at the eastern edge of the village. Bonnie Prince Charlie is said to have stayed there in 1745 while on his march towards London to seize the crown. These days it is a Youth Hostel. The house was built by one of the Bateman family and restored some 300 years later by another.
Robert Bateman was born at Hartington in 1561 and became a merchant in London, one son being knighted by Charles II and another becoming Lord Mayor of London.
A cheese factory in Hartington is noted for its fine Stilton, and can be visited by arrangement.
However for visitors who cannot visit the factory do in fact have a cheese shop in the market place.
On the River Dove equidistant from Buxton and Ashbourne, some two miles west of the A515, Hartington is famous for its scenery. The road to the A515 winds its way through a narrow valley with limestone crags often rising sheer on either side. Beresford Dale can be reached by a footpath from the village. Just off the square stands the old Town Hall, a pretty, arched building dating from 1836 which is now a shop.
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