Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire

Last updated January 21, 2024

Hawkesbury is a hamlet and civil parish in the area of the South Gloucestershire unitary authority in England. The hamlet, consisting of a few cottages around a triangular green, lies west of Hawkesbury Upton, off the A46 road.

The civil parish includes Hawkesbury itself, the larger village of Hawkesbury Upton and the hamlets of Dunkirk, Petty France and Little Badminton. At the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,235,^[1] increasing to 1,263 at the 2011 census. Prior to 1991, what is now the Hillesley and Tresham parish in Stroud District formed the northern part of the parish.

The parish is in Cotswold Edge electoral ward, which stretches south to Tormarton.

The Cotswold Way passes by the two settlements.

History

John Marius Wilson described 19th-century Hawkesbury in his Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as a "tything, a parish, and a sub-district, in Chipping-Sodbury district, Gloucester…has a post office, of the name of Hawkesbury-Upton, under Chippenham, a police station, and a fair on the last Friday of Aug." The population of Hawkesbury at that time was 466 and the town had 108 houses. Together with the tithings of Upton, Hillesley, Little Badminton, and Saddlewood-with-Tresham and Killcott, the parish of Hawkesbury had a population of 2,173 in 499 houses.^[2]

Hawkesbury was a rural parish in Gloucestershire, in which agriculture and animal husbandry were economically dominant. The climate in southwestern Gloucestershire was partial to raising potatoes, along with domesticated animals.^[3] Cattle and sheep were important to the livelihood of the residents of Hawkesbury, and a fair was held on the last Friday of August for the sale of those animals.^[4] The raising of sheep was a principal source of income, primarily for their wool. Homes constructed along streams aided in the wool production industry as it provided water necessary for dying and washing.^[5] This water also provided means to grind corn in grist mills and finish cloth in fulling mills.^[6]

Religious sites

The Church of St Mary was built in the 12th century. It is a Grade I listed building.^[7]

Monument

There is a monument (the 'Somerset Monument') on the Cotswold Edge at grid reference ST772878 . The monument was erected in 1846 to commemorate General Lord Edward Somerset, a soldier son of the 5th Duke of Beaufort (whose ancestral home is at Badminton), who had served with distinction at Waterloo. The first keeper of the monument was Shadrack Byfield, a one-armed veteran of the Anglo-American War of 1812, whose memoirs of that conflict have achieved a measure of fame.

Related Research Articles

Upton may refer to:

South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke. The southern part of its area falls within the Greater Bristol urban area surrounding the city of Bristol.

Stroud District is a local government district in Gloucestershire, England. The district is named after its largest town of Stroud. The council is based at Ebley Mill in Cainscross. The district also includes the towns of Berkeley, Dursley, Nailsworth, Stonehouse and Wotton-under-Edge, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Over half of the district lies within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset was a British soldier who fought during the Peninsular War and the War of the Seventh Coalition.

Badminton is a village and civil parish in South Gloucestershire, England. The only settlement in the parish is Badminton village, sometimes called Great Badminton to distinguish it from the hamlet of Little Badminton, about one mile to the north in Hawkesbury parish. The large country house called Badminton House is close to the north end of the village, and its surrounding deer park lies to the north and west.

The Cotswold is a British breed of domestic sheep. It originates in, and is named for, the Cotswold hills of the southern midlands of England. It is a large long-woollen sheep, and is kept as a dual-purpose breed, providing both meat and wool.

Hawkesbury Upton is a village in South Gloucestershire, England, east of the much smaller Hawkesbury. It lies north of Horton, east of Dunkirk and south of Alderley and Hillesley.

Hillesley is a village in Gloucestershire, England. It was transferred from the county of Avon in 1991 and is now in Stroud District. The village forms part of the civil parish of Hillesley and Tresham. It is close to the Cotswold Edge, near the Cotswold Way and about 2+1⁄2 miles (4.0 km) south of the town of Wotton under Edge.

Little Badminton is a small village in Hawkesbury parish in South Gloucestershire, England.

Alderley is a village and civil parish in the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England, about fourteen miles southwest of Stroud and two miles south of Wotton-under-Edge. It is situated on the Cotswold Way near to the hamlets of Hillesley and Tresham and lies underneath Winner Hill between two brooks, the Ozleworth and Kilcott.

Boxwell with Leighterton is a civil parish in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 232, increasing to 306 at the 2011 census. The parish includes Boxwell and Leighterton.

Hillesley and Tresham is a civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. It had a population of 591 according to the 2001 census, decreasing to 391 at the 2011 census. The parish contains the villages of Hillesley and Tresham. The Lyvett (Levett) family, an Anglo-Norman family prominent in Sussex, were lords of the manor of Hillesley in 12th and 13th centuries. The family also held Boxwell, Chipping Sodbury and other places in Gloucestershire.

Donnington is a small village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, near the Roman Fosse Way in the Cotswold District Council area of south west England. It is situated on a hill a mile and a half north of Stow-on-the-Wold, of which until 1894 it formed a detached hamlet, so that the north transept in the parish church was reserved for the parish. There are fine views over the Evenlode valley.

Siddington is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is located immediately south of Cirencester. At the 2011 United Kingdom Census, the parish had a population of 1,249.

Oldbury-on-the-Hill is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Didmarton, in the Cotswold district, in Gloucestershire, England, ninety-three miles west of London and less than one-mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Didmarton. In 1881 the parish had a population of 386.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petty France, Gloucestershire</span> Hamlet in South Gloucestershire, England, UK

Petty France is a hamlet in the rural north of South Gloucestershire, near the Gloucestershire border, in Hawkesbury parish. It is on the A46, which runs from Bath, to Nailsworth and Stroud, just south of another, slightly smaller hamlet, Dunkirk. Badminton and Hawkesbury Upton are also nearby.

Grumbald's Ash Hundred was a subdivision of the county of Gloucestershire, England. Hundreds originated in the late Saxon period and lasted as administrative divisions until the 19th century. It has been reported that the court was originally held under an Ash tree situated in Doddington parish, although this location would not be consistent with the previous split of hundred. Its name survives in the Grumbolds Ash with Avening electoral ward of Cotswold district council.

The Church of St Mary in Hawkesbury, South Gloucestershire, England was built in the 12th century. It is a Grade I listed building.

The Somerset Monument in Hawkesbury Upton, Gloucestershire, England was built in 1846 to commemorate Lord Robert Edward Somerset. It is a Grade II* listed building, and on the Heritage at Risk register.

References

↑ "2001 census Neighbourhood Statistics". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2009.
↑ http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=769560&word=NULL Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-1872
↑ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50983&strquery=gloucestershire#s3 A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
↑ http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Hawkesbury/Gaz1868.html The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868
↑ http://www.hawkesburyhistory.com/brief_history/index.htm Archived 20 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine "Hawkesbury History: A Brief History of Hawkesbury"
↑ http://www.hawkesburylocalhistorysociety.co.uk/windmill.html Hawkesbury Local History Society,"Hawkesbury Upton’s Mill"
↑ "Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin". Historic England. National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

51°35′19″N2°19′50″W / 51.58859°N 2.33049°W / 51.58859; -2.33049

External links

http://www.hawkesburyhistory.com/ Archived 1 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine

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[1] "2001 census Neighbourhood Statistics". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2009.

[2] ttp://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=769560&word=NULL Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-1872

[3] ttp://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50983&strquery=gloucestershire#s3 A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

[4] ttp://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/GLS/Hawkesbury/Gaz1868.html The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868

[5] ttp://www.hawkesburyhistory.com/brief_history/index.htm Archived 20 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine "Hawkesbury History: A Brief History of Hawkesbury"

[6] ttp://www.hawkesburylocalhistorysociety.co.uk/windmill.html Hawkesbury Local History Society,"Hawkesbury Upton’s Mill"

[nhle-7] "Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin". Historic England. National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 18 November 2018.

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