Hawkshead, Lancashire Genealogy

England Lancashire  Lancashire Parishes



Parish History
Hawkshead St Michael was an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Lancashire.

Other places in the parish include: Borwick, Claife, Dale Park, Field Head, Gallowbarrow, Upper Claife, Grizedale, Hawkeshead with Monk Coniston and Skelwith, Henakin, Lower Claife, Monk Coniston and Skelwith, and Graythwaite.

The Church of St Michael and All Saints was built in the 15th Century or early 16th Century, and the north aisle was rebuilt in 1578; the date-stone has the initials IS and the Sandys arms. The roof was raised and the clerestory added in the late 16th Century or early 17th Century. In the north chapel there is a chest tomb for William and Margaret Sandys, with recumbent effigies, dated 1578. These were the parents of Archbishop Edwin Sandys, who carried out the alterations to the church. Some of the masonry of the church might be part of the 13th Century chapel. The vestry (on the north-west corner) and hearse house were built c.1793. The chancel is a continuation of the nave, unlike many churches where it was built separately with a lower roof. The aisles and chapels are under lean-to roofs. As often, many of the windows were renewed in the 19th Century. Inside, the nave and aisles have wall paintings, texts in ornamental surrounds, by J. Addison c.1680, also some of 1711 and some repainted by W Bolton in 1876. In 1219 the manor of Hawkshead was a chapelry of Dalton-in-Furness, twenty miles away, paying tithes also to Urswick, and the people wanted Hawkshead to become a parish with its own cemetery. This was supported by the Abbot of Furness but was opposed by the vicars of Dalton and Urswick, as they did not want to lose the income from the tithes. They appealed to the Pope in 1220, but he decided in favour of Hawkshead; however for some reason this decision was not implemented. It was not until 1578 that Hawkshead and Colton (the southern part of the manor) became parishes. Satterthwaite was made a separate parish in 1741, Claife became a civil parish in 1866 and Skelwith in 1894.

The township of Hawkshead was originally owned by the monks of Furness Abbey; nearby Colthouse derives its name from the stables owned by the Abbey. Hawkshead grew to be an important wool market in medieval times and later as a market town after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1532. It was granted its first market charter by King James I in 1608. In 1585 Hawkshead Grammar School was established by Archbishop Edwin Sandys of York after he successfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth I for a charter to establish a governing body.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, Hawkshead became a village (or town at the time) of important local stature. Poet William Wordsworth was educated in its grammar school, whilst Beatrix Potter lived nearby, marrying William Heelis, a local solicitor in the early 20th century.

Upon the formation of the National Park in 1951, tourism grew in importance, though traditional farming still goes on around the village. Hawkshead has a timeless atmosphere and consists of a characterful warren of alleys, overhanging gables and a series of medieval squares. It is eloquently described in William Wordsworth's poem, 'The Prelude'.

Much of the land in and around the village is now owned by the National Trust. The National Trust property is called Hawkshead and Claife.

The modern parish is in the Diocese of Carlisle and Hawkshead is situated just north of Esthwaite Water, in a valley to the west of Windermere and east of Coniston Water. It is part of Furness, making it a part of the ancient county of Lancashire but in the administrative county of Cumbria since 1974.

"HAWKSHEAD (St. Michael), a market-town and parish, in the union of Ulverston, hundred of Lonsdale north of the Sands, N. division of the county of Lancaster, 28 miles (N. N. W.) from Lancaster, and 268 (N. N. W.) from London; comprising the townships of Claife, Hawkshead, and Monk-Coniston with Skelwith, and the chapelry of Satterthwaite; the whole containing 2323 inhabitants, of whom 892 are in the township of Hawkshead. This place probably owes its origin to the Saxons, as the language of that people strongly pervades the dialect of its inhabitants at the present day. The earliest mention of it occurs in some transactions of the abbey of Furness, in the 12th century, at which period it was a chapelry under Dalton-in-Furness: it remained dependent on the abbey till the Dissolution. Hawkshead was constituted a parish in the reign of Elizabeth, by Archbishop Sandys, a native of the place, and was then of much greater extent than it is now, including the present parish of Coulton, which was separated in 1680. In respect of importance it is the fourth town in the district of Furness, and during the existence of the abbey it was governed by a bailiff appointed by the abbots, who dispensed justice for the district, in a court-room over the gateway of a house occupied by some of the monks who officiated in the church, and performed other parochial duties: of this house, which was a quadrangular building, there are still some remains in tolerable preservation. In the reign of Elizabeth the tenants of Hawkshead, in conjunction with those of Coulton, petitioned for the suppression of certain ironworks in High Furness, in order to preserve for the protection of their cattle during the winter, those woods and coppices in the neighbourhood that would otherwise be cut down to supply the furnaces with fuel; and charged themselves with the payment to the queen of £20 per annum, for which the works had been let. The Town is pleasantly situated near the head of Esthwaite-water, a small lake beautifully indented with richly-wooded promontories, and nearly in the centre of a vale of luxuriant meadows and corn-fields, almost surrounded by the fells of Furness. The borders of the lake are enlivened by villas and farmhouses. The parish is bounded on the north by the river Brathey, which separates the counties of Lancaster and Westmorland; on the east by Windermere lake; on the south by Coulton parish; and on the west by part of Coniston water, and by Yewdale and Tilberthwaite becks. On Priest's Pot, a circular pool at the head of Esthwaite-water, is a floating islet containing trees and shrubs. The hills afford large quantities of excellent slate, and stone for building; and a considerable portion of the former is exported. Many females were employed in spinning yarn; but since the application of machinery to that purpose, the trade has declined, and the wool produced from the numerous flocks which are fed on the neighbouring hills is sold in the fleece, to be used by distant manufacturers. The market is on Monday; the privilege of holding it was obtained in the reign of James I., by A. Sandys and other inhabitants. The fairs are on Easter-Monday, the Monday before Ascension-day, Whit-Monday, and October 2nd, chiefly for cattle and pedlery. The living is a vicarage, in the patronage of the Crown, in right of the duchy of Lancaster; net income, £164; impropriators, the landowners. The church, a neat structure, advantageously seated on a small knoll rising above the town, was repaired and modernised in the reign of Elizabeth, and contains a monument to the memory of the parents of Archbishop Sandys. The short massy columns, their arches, and some other parts of the original building, yet remain, indicating the Norman style, and countenancing the supposition that the church was founded about the period of the Conquest. The parsonage-house is pleasantly situated at a short distance from the church, on land that retains the name of Walker-ground from its supposed donor, Dr. George Walker, a celebrated Puritan divine of the 17th century, who was born at Hawkshead. A chapel has been erected and endowed at Brathey, and there is another chapel at Satterthwaite; at the hamlet of HawksheadHill is a small place of worship for Baptists. The grammar school was founded in 1585, by Archbishop Sandys, who endowed it with lands now producing about £180 per annum. A sum of about £60, arising from benefactions, is yearly appropriated to boarding and clothing a number of boys, selected by the trustees of the grammar school. The Rev. Thomas Sandys, in 1717, bequeathed a collection of books for the use of the school; and in 1816 the Rev. William Wilson left £100, the interest to be distributed in prizes to the scholars. The late Rev. Dr. Wordsworth, master of Trinity College, Cambridge; his relative, the poet; and other distinguished men, received the rudiments of their education in the school."

From: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis (1848), pp. 447-450. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51016 Date accessed: 01 July 2010.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Lancashire Online Parish Clerks
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Church records
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Census records
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Poor Law Unions
Ulverston Poor Law Union,Lancashire

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Lancashire Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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