Section viii – Robin Hood’s Stride & Harthill Moor (see maps)

The area around Robin Hood’s Stride is known as Harthill Moor and is
particularly rich in prehistoric and historic remains. Robin Hood, of course, has
given his name to many landscape features in the North Midlands, and this
name is probably medieval. (An alternative is Mock Beggar’s Hall.) The
gritstone crags would have certainly acted as a distinctive landmark for users
of the Portway, and there appears to be evidence of deliberate working on them,
either for quarrying or to emphasise their outline.

Among the features which are clearly man-made are the enclosure on
Cratcliff Rocks, which may be late Neolithic, the circle at Nine Stone Close,
which has also been given a tentative Neolithic date, at least one tumulus, and
the Castle Ring hillfort. None of these can be dated accurately, and they may
have been in use at different periods, e.g. the enclosure at Castle Ring to the
northwest of Harthill Moor Farm might have been a replacement of the earlier
stronghold on Cratcliff Rocks. Either would have provided a secure camping
place for travellers. The Nine Stone circle (.ve of them are missing) is
apparently the only one in Derbyshire with standing stones, though it has been
claimed that they have been re-erected in historic times. It is noteworthy that the
Nine Ladies circle is only two miles to the east on Stanton Moor.

The most recently discovered feature is an example of cup and ring art, an art
form normally linked to the early Bronze Age, which was found on the base of
a boulder. A possible link between these carvings and the Portway has been
suggested:

recent theories have sought to demonstrate that the siting of some prehistoric
rock art may be explicable in terms of marking signi.cant points along
contemporary routes through the landscape… (Guilbert, Garton & Walters,
2006 p.20).

The same article presents a full analysis of the prehistoric features of the area.
The hermitage cave found at the west end of Cratcliff Rocks is clearly less
ancient. The carved cruci.x is thought to be medieval, while the records of
Haddon Hall for 1550 mention paying a hermit 8d for providing rabbits
(Cockerton, 1934b). What is remarkable is that this is the second hermitage on
the Portway in twenty miles, and as Cockerton notes:

it may be that the good man was able to be of assistance to travellers and
performed the duties of an unof.cial guide, but his choice of a hermitage can
hardly have been dictated by a desire for enduring solitude (Cockerton, 1934b).

Although the prominence of Robin Hood’s Stride has been reduced by the
planting of the belt of conifers to the south, the view from the top in all
directions is still remarkable, and this would undoubtedly have been an asset to
any settlement near here in earlier times. The line of ancient sweet chestnut
trees on the south side of the enclosure, which marks a parish boundary, is also
worth noting as this tree is uncommon in the Peak District.

Robin Hood’s Stride to Alport – about 2 miles

The path is clearly marked, with a branch leading off to the right to the
Hermitage and Cratcliff Rocks. After passing Robin Hood’s Stride the main
path crosses two meadows before joining the Elton-Alport road, where you
turn right. This quiet lane provides a comfortable stroll of just over a mile
to the river crossing. Ridge and furrow .elds can be seen near Upper
Green.elds Farm. Then the road corkscrews for the steep descent into the
pretty village of Alport, where it crosses the river just above the millpond.
It is notable that by crossing here, below the point where the River Lathkill
meets the Bradford, the route only needs to cross one valley and thus ford
just one river, while keeping well away from the Wye valley to the east.

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