Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire
| Hawkesbury | |
| Gloucestershire | |
|---|---|
 Hawkesbury | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST772878 |
| Location: | 51°35’19"N, 2°19’50"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Gloucestershire |
Hawkesbury is a hamlet in the south of Gloucestershire consisting of a few cottages around a triangular green, sitting to the west of Hawkesbury Upton, off the A46 road.
The wider civil parish includes Hawkesbury itself, the larger village of Hawkesbury Upton and the hamlets of Dunkirk, Petty France and Little Badminton. The 2001 census recorded a parish population of 1,235, increasing to 1,263 at the 2011 census.
The Cotswold Way passes by Hawkesbury and Hawkesbury Upton.
Close by, in Hawkesbury Upton, stands the Somerset Monument, on the Cotswold Edge. It was erected in 1846 to commemorate General Lord Edward Somerset, who had served with distinction at Waterloo.
History
John Marius Wilson described nineteenth century Hawkesbury in his Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales as:
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 included 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 with 499 houses [1]
This is and ever has been a farming parish. Agriculture and animal husbandry were economically dominant.[2] A fair held on last Friday in August for the sale of cattle and sheep form the famrs of Hawkesbury and thereabouts.[3] 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.[4] This water also provided means to grind corn in mills and finish cloth in fulling mills.[5]
Parish church
The Church of St Mary was built in the 12th century. It is a Grade I listed building.[6]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire) |
References
- ↑ http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=769560&word=NULL Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1870-1872
- ↑ A Topographical Dictionary of England, 1848
- ↑ The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868 - GENUKI
- ↑ 'Hawkesbury History: A Brief History of Hawkesbury'
- ↑ 'Hawkesbury Upton’s Mill' – Hawkesbury Local History Society
- ↑ National Heritage List 1320866: Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin
