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Hawkeshead in Lancaster County England History and GeographyHAWKESHEAD, a parish in the hundred of LONSDALE, north of the sands, county palatine of LANCASTER, comprising the market town of Hawkeshead, the chapelry of Satterthwaite, and the townships of Claife and Monk-Coniston with Skellwith, and containing 2014 inhabitants, of which number, 829 are in the town of Hawkeshead, 28 miles (N.N.W.) from Lancaster, and 268 (N.N.W.) from London. This place, the origin of which is not satisfactorily known, is in respect of importance, the fourth town in the district of Furness, and during the existence of the abbey of Furness it was governed by a bailiff appointed by the abbots, who dispensed justice, for the whole of that district, in a court-room over the gateway of a house inhabited by some of the monks who officiated in the church, and performed other parochial duties: of this house, which was a quadrangular building belonging to the abbots, there are still some remains in tolerable preservation. In the reign of Elizabeth the tenants of Hawkeshead, in conjunction with those of Colton, petitioned for the suppression of certain iron-works in High Furness, in order to preserve, for the nourishment and protection of their cattle during the winter, those woods and coppices in the neighbourhood which were 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 to the proprietors. In the reign of James I., the inhabitants obtained the privilege of a market, granted by that monarch to Adam Sandys, of Graithwaite, Esq. The town is pleasantly situated at the head of Esthwaite-water, a smooth lake beautifully indented with richly-wooded promontories, luxuriant meadows, and corn fields, and nearly in the centre of a fertile vale, almost surrounded by the fells of Furness, and defended by those of Coniston from the north and north-west winds. The environs abound with pleasing and picturesque scenery, bordering on the lakes of Winandermere and Coniston to the east and west, and bounded on the north by the river Brathy, which separates the counties of Lancaster and Westmorland. The hills in the vicinity are rich in mineral produce, and extensive iron-works are carried on, affording employment to a considerable number of workmen; there are also very spacious quarries of slate, and some copper mines, the latter of which are not very productive. Several females in the town and parish were formerly 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; and the fairs are on Easter Monday, the Monday before Ascension-day, Whit-Monday, and Oct. 2nd, chiefly for cattle and pedlary. Hawkshead, formerly a chapelry to the vicarage of Dalton, was constituted a parish in the reign of Elizabeth, by Archbishop Sandys. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the archdeaconry of Richmond, and diocese of Chester, and in the patronage of the King, as Duke of Lancaster. The church, dedicated to St. Michael, and supposed to have been founded about the time of the Conquest, was repaired and modernised by Archbishop Sandys, in the reign of Elizabeth. The grammar school was founded in 1585, by the same archbishop, who endowed it with houses and lands producing about £150 per annum; it is free to all sons of parishioners, who pay a certain sum per quarter for writing and arithmetic, and open to sons of persons not residing in the parish on payment to the master of four guineas per annum and two guineas entrance: the management is vested in trustees, who appoint the master, subject to the approval of the Bishop of Chester. There is also a sum of about £60 per annum, arising from divers benefactions, which is appropriated to boarding and clothing a proportionate number. 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 of which is annually distributed in prizes to the scholars. The Rev. Dr. Wordsworth, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, received the rudiments of his education in this school. From Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of England 1831, courtesy of Databases 4 Sale |
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