Hawkshead

No individual entry found for Hawkshead in the Domesday survey. Whitaker (1823) notes that a chapel Hawkshead must have existed as 'of ease' to Dalton long before 1200; though modernised in Henry VIII's time, Whitaker adds still retains "the firm and durable structure of the [Norman] church". The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Lancaster, vol. 8, 1914) notes: "The chapel at Hawkshead was included in the agreement between the monks of Furness and the canons of Conishead about 1200, by which it was secured to the monks. [...] It had perhaps been considered in earlier times either an independent church or a chapel to Ulverston [...] Under Furness Abbey Hawkshead became a chapel to their church at Dalton, [...] and so continued until 1578, when Archbishop Sandys is said to have assigned a separate parish to it. [...] The [present] building is very plain in character and of little architectural interest, and no part of it is earlier than the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century [...] All the fittings, including the font and pulpit, are modern." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SD3519998062] reports a modern font of 1875 in it. [NB: we have no information on the previous font(s) here].