Early Events in Hawksworth
Knowledge of early parish events can be found in old legal documents and from the parish records that started in 1569 for Hawksworth.
From the 1700s, newspapers provided articles about parish events and later on photographs became increasingly important in recording images of parish life.
Legal documents such as deeds and wills
The only sources of knowledge about Hawksworth before the 1500s is from legal documents, such as charters, deeds and wills. Not all will have survived through the centuries but those that did are stored in county archives offices. An added complication is that they are mostly in Latin. Examples are shown below.
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A chance find of a late 1100s Grant of Service Confirmation mentions Walter de Sancto Paulo and his son Alexander, both of Hawksworth. Walter is thought to be the founder of Hawksworth church.
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In his will of 1434, John Taylor, Rector of Hawksworth, directed that his body should be interred "in the churchyard, before the cross". This is believed to be the earliest mention of the Anglo Saxon preaching cross which is currently inside the church.
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A 1754 Settlement Certificate records that James & Mary Hill were to be legally settled in Hawksworth from Orston. This happened when people had no means of financial support and had to be sent back to their parish of birth to received Parish Relief.
Parish Registers & Churchwardens Accounts
Some events in the village were recorded in the parish registers and the church wardens' accounts. For example the arrival of plague in the village around 1609 was mentioned by the rector and the parish registers recorded details of people who died of plague.
Newspapers
Newspapers were another source of parish information and without them we wouldn't have known of the sudden death in Hawksworth in 1819 of John Steels, the curing of the stammer of the future MP George Storer in 1821, details of the death of John Oliver in 1833, the appointment of a gamekeeper for Hawksworth and the great celebrations in 1851 held in the village to welcome the new vicar.
Photographs
From the mid 19th century onwards, the introduction of photography changed the amount known about early Hawksworth life, when everyday events began to be recorded as images. The earliest images for Hawksworth that have survived are on glass. Others give an idea of life at the time such as that of the rabbiting party taken in Victorian times.
Late 19th / early 20th century: from this time private individuals took an interest in photography and recorded local scenes of interest. For example, in the early 1900s, George Stubbs recorded many scenes in and around Hawksworth - these are shown in several sections of the website.