Life around the green
Litton
A high White Peak village where old stocks, a market cross, a traditional pub and nearby limestone dales shape the visit.
- Best for
- Village character and limestone-dale walking
- Give it
- A village afternoon or a longer day with a dale
- Don't miss
- The stocks, market cross and Red Lion on the green
The Fox verdict
A small White Peak village with a lot within reach
Litton pairs old stocks and a market cross with a traditional pub, a community-run shop and nearby dale walking.
Come for the life around the green, then choose between the former-railway Monsal Trail and the limestone drama and darker history of Cressbrook Dale and Peter's Stone.
Where to go
Places in Litton
Every place below is checked against a published source, listed with what it is and how long to give it.
Local signatures
3 placesThe Red Lion
A traditional inn converted from three miners' cottages in 1787, with thick exposed stone walls, wood panelling, three small rooms with log fires, real ales and a menu known for pies, stew and Derbyshire beef burgers.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes
- Locality
- on the green
- Access
- Dogs are welcome throughout; no children under six are allowed inside the pub.
Christ Church
A Stancliffe-stone church opened in 1928 with seating for around 120; before it opened, Anglican services were held in the schoolroom.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- at the west end of the village on the Tideswell road
Monsal Trail
An 8.5-mile former-railway route through the limestone dales for walking and cycling, close to Litton Mill.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes for a chosen section
- Locality
- close to Litton Mill
- Access
- The route is flat and traffic-free.
Food & drink
1 placeLitton Community Shop
A village-owned co-operative shop, café and post office in the former smithy, staffed by around thirty unpaid volunteers and offering outdoor tea, coffee and homemade cake.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 30 minutes
- Locality
- across the village
Walks & outdoors
1 placeCressbrook Dale and Peter's Stone
A limestone chasm named for the watercress once grown in its stream. At its northern end, Peter's Stone is tied to the story of Anthony Lingard, the last man gibbeted in Derbyshire.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 90 minutes for a selected stretch
- Locality
- Cressbrook Dale
History & heritage
1 placeLitton Village Cross and Stocks
Old wooden stocks face the pub beside the steps of a market cross topped by a nineteenth-century gritstone obelisk shaft; the cross is Grade II listed.
- Visit length
- Editorial estimate: allow around 20 minutes
- Locality
- on the green
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Three ways to explore Litton
Signature outings
A proper pub stop
Choose a pie, beef stew or Derbyshire beef burger in the Red Lion's small wood-panelled rooms with log fires.
Stocks before the pub
See the old wooden stocks directly in front of the pub, with the market-cross steps and gritstone obelisk behind them.
Peter's Stone
Find the rock at the northern end of Cressbrook Dale where Anthony Lingard's chained skeleton hung until 1826.
The village story
Litton Village Guide
Stocks, pub fires, community spirit and limestone-dale stories from a high White Peak village.
The Green, the Stocks and the Red Lion
On the green at Litton there is a set of old wooden stocks, positioned directly in front of the pub, which is either good planning or a long-running joke about where the trouble tends to come from. Behind them stand the steps of an old market cross topped with a 19th-century gritstone obelisk. The green is where the village organises itself — the primary school with its forty-odd children sits on it, and so does most of village life.
The pub is the Red Lion, and it is one of the reasons to come. It first opened in 1787, converted from three miners' cottages, and it has stayed the sort of place that gets described as unspoilt: thick stone walls, wood panelling, three small rooms with log fires. The kitchen does beef stew with garlic, chilli and lemon butter and a warm baguette, proper pies with mash or hand-cut chips and homemade gravy, and a Derbyshire beef burger with mature Cheddar and bacon marmalade. Chef Steven Brook's steak and kidney pies have their own small following. It won a TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award, keeps five Cask Marque real ales, and was Sheffield & District CAMRA's Derbyshire Pub of the Year in 2023.
Ula and the Community Shop
Dogs are welcome throughout. The pub dog is Ula, whose billing on the Red Lion's own website reads: "Ula the pub dog, welcomes well behaved owners!"
Across the village is the Community Shop, which is a café and post office as well, run out of the old smithy. It opened in September 1999 as the first village-owned and run shop in Derbyshire, saved from closure by residents and staffed by around thirty unpaid volunteers. You can sit outside with tea, coffee and homemade cake.
Dales, Rails and Gibbet Rock
The walking starts more or less at the door. A circular of about eight miles runs down through Tideswell Dale and along the River Wye through Miller's Dale and Water-cum-Jolly Dale — a stretch hemmed in by high cliffs — before dropping into Cressbrook Dale, a limestone chasm named for the watercress once grown in its stream. The flat, traffic-free Monsal Trail, a former railway line, runs nearby for anyone who would rather cycle than climb.
At the northern end of Cressbrook Dale is Peter's Stone, also called Gibbet Rock. In 1815 Anthony Lingard of Litton murdered Hannah Oliver, the tollhouse keeper at Wardlow Mires, and was undone by a pair of red shoes he had stolen from her. He was the last man gibbeted in Derbyshire. His chained skeleton hung on Peter's Stone until 1826, when it was removed after complaints about the bones chattering in the wind.
A High Village and May Day
Litton sits high on a limestone plateau, almost a thousand feet up, a mile east of Tideswell and about five from Bakewell. There is no station; Andrews of Tideswell runs a bus through roughly every two hours. Let's Go Peak District calls it "an utterly charming White Peak village, small but perfectly formed."
Come the first of May, the schoolchildren dance the maypole on the green in Victorian costume, a few feet from the stocks.
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A guide with a point of view
Written from research. Edited for real journeys.
Use the Official site links for live practical details, then use this guide for context, ideas and room to explore.
Sources
Every place on this page is checked against a published source. Each entry links the record we used and names who publishes it.
- The Red Lion — theredlionlitton.co.uk operator, sector body or destination organisation
- Litton Community Shop — postoffice.co.uk other published source record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Litton Village Cross and Stocks — historicengland.org.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access
- Christ Church — achurchnearyou.com national body or asset manager
- Cressbrook Dale and Peter's Stone — gov.uk statutory register or public authority
- Monsal Trail — peakdistrict.gov.uk statutory register or public authority record not machine-readable; publisher restricts automated access