Harthill Moor

About Harthill Moor

Rising between the Lathkill and Bradford valleys, this gritstone plateau offers a dense concentration of history and geology. The summit area is defined by the weathered turrets of Robin Hood’s Stride and the secluded Cratcliffe Tor, providing clear views across the valley to the Bronze Age landscape of Stanton Moor.

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Did You Know?

• •Harthill appears in the Domesday Book as Hortel, derived from the Old English for ‘hill of the harts’ (deer), indicating its ancient character as a wooded hunting area.
• •The Bronze Age stone circle at Nine Stones Close features four gritstone monoliths, the largest in the Peak District. One of the original stones was removed in the 18th century and can still be seen serving as a gatepost in a field wall 70 metres to the south.
• •Hidden at Cratcliffe Rocks is a medieval hermit's cell containing a 14th-century bas-relief crucifix carved directly into the gritstone. Grooves in the rock outside show where a timber lean-to once provided the hermit with additional shelter.
• •The prominent natural towers of Robin Hood's Stride are also known as Mock Beggar Hall, so named because from a distance the stone pinnacles resemble the chimneys of a grand house, potentially deceiving travellers looking for a night's lodging.
• •The moor is a waypoint for the Derbyshire Portway, an ancient prehistoric road that followed the high ground from Mam Tor to Nottingham, long before the modern Limestone Way followed a similar course.
• •Despite the name Nine Stones Close, visitors expecting a full set will be disappointed; the count currently stands at four, as local wall-builders found prehistoric monuments a suspiciously convenient source of pre-cut building materials.