Hackness / Hacanes / Hacanos / Haccanessa / Hachanesse / Hacnes / Hagenessa / Hagenesse / Hakenes / Hakeneys / Harkeneys

There is an entry for Hackness [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE9690/hackness/] [accessed 20 January 2020]; it reports one priest and three churches in it. Glynne's August 1827 to this church (in Butler, 2007) reports: "The font is of circular form and plain, supported on a cylindrical shaft [...] Its cover is of wood and very beautiful, being enriched with tabernacle work, crocketed canopies and pinnacles -- a handsome specimen of rectilinear wood work." [NB: Butler (ibid.) annotation of Glynne reads: "The font now dates from the 1870 restoration"]. There is no explicit mention of the font itself in Whellan's (1859) entry for Hackness, but he notes the font cover: ''The cover, or tabernacle work, of the font is of excellent design , and of Perpendicular character", but in his entry for Harwood Dale Whellan notes ''an ancient font in the Churchyard'' of the Chapel at Ease dedicated to St. Margaret at Harewood [aka Harwood] Dale. The font in th churchyard is believed to be the original one from Hackness [cf. Index entry for Harwood Dale for this font]. The present [i.e., Victorian] font and cover are illustrated in Bond (1908). The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (York North Riding, vol. 2, 1923) notes: "There were three churches (one possibly that of Whitby [...] and a priest at Hackness in 1086, [...] and before 1096 the founder of Whitby Abbey endowed it with the church of St. Mary here and the church of St. Peter (the monastic foundation) 'where our monks serve God, die and are buried.' [...] These two churches are again mentioned early in the 12th century. [...] The earliest remaining portion of the existing fabric is the chancel arch, which dates from late in the 11th century or earlier, the church at this date no doubt consisting of an aisleless nave and chancel [...] The church has been much restored in modern times [...] The font is modern, but the cover dates from the early 16th century. It is handsome, though of poor workmanship, and rises in three diminishing stages. The form is octagonal with buttressed angles and pierced traceried panels with crocketed canopies to the lowest stage. It is finished with a short spire. [...] Preserved at the east end of the south aisle are two fragments of large Saxon crosses." Morris (1931) mentions a cover of the 17th century. Betjeman (1958) notes "the early 16th-century font cover". Pevsner (1985) too, notes the cover: "Perp[endicular], a three-tier canopy with buttresses and crocketed gables." The font, consisting of an octagonal basin raised on a columnar base appears Victorian; the panels of the basin are decorated with four sets of three blind trefoil arches alternating with four Biblical scenes [Noah's ark, etc.]; the upper rim has a band of ornament all around; the underbowl is decorated with foliage motifs; the base has a broad plain central column surrounded by eight colonnettes the shafts of which are made of marble, alternating white and red in colour, while the moulded capitals and bases are made of the same stone as the basin and the octagonal lower base [sandstone?]. The real protagonist here is the three-storey ornate cover, its lower volume ornamented with standing figures, while the other two volumes are covered in Ogee windows and cusped pinnacles. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SE9690990556] notes: "Chancel arch Cll or earlier; early C12 south arcade; late C12 north arcade, tower and tower arch [...] In the south aisle are 2 pieces of an Anglo-Saxon cross, probably dating to the C9. [...] C19 octagonal font with carved panels. Octagonal Jacobean font. [...] Fine C15 font cover, restored in 1947, in the form of a tall octagonal canopy with buttresses and crockets, carved Perpendicular tracery and 8 figures around the base." [NB: we have no information available on the earlier font[s?] of this church -- unless the original font is the one now located at the new church in nearby Harwood Dale [cf. Index entry]].