Hawkedon is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located around 7 miles (11 km) south-south-west of Bury St Edmunds, the parish also contains the hamlet of Thurston End, and in 2005 had a population of 120.[1] The majority of the village is classed as a conservation area.

Hawkedon
St Mary's Church, Hawkedon
Hawkedon is located in Suffolk
Hawkedon
Hawkedon
Location within Suffolk
Population120 (2005)[1]
134 (2011)[2]
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBury St Edmunds
Postcode districtIP29
PoliceSuffolk
FireSuffolk
AmbulanceEast of England
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
52°08′42″N 0°37′37″E / 52.145°N 0.627°E / 52.145; 0.627

Etymology

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The name means 'hill of the hawks', derived from the Old English hafoc meaning hawk (in the genitive plural), and the Old English dūn meaning hill.

History

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The village is recorded in the Domesday book with a population of 24 households in 1086; 10 freemen, 7 smallholders, 5 slaves, & 2 villagers.[3]

In 1870–72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described the village as:

HAWKEDON, a parish in Sudbury district, Suffolk; 5½ miles NNE of Clare r. station, and 10 NW by N of Sudbury. Post town, Stansfield, under Sudbury. Acres, 1,461. Real property, £2,049. Population, 321. Houses, 67. Hawkedon Hall belongs to J. E. Hale, Esq.; and Thurston Hall, to H. J. Oakes, Esq. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Ely. Value, £400. Patron, H. J. Oakes, Esq. The church is ancient, with a tower; and contains an ancient font, and several brasses and monuments. There is a national school.

In 1887, John Bartholomew also wrote an entry on Hawkedon in the Gazetteer of the British Isles with a much shorter description:

Hawkedon, parish, W. Suffolk, 5½ miles NE. of Clare, 1461 acres, population 278; P.O.[4]

Buildings

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There are many other medieval and listed properties in the parish, notably the Grade I Swan Hall and Thurston End Hall (both fine timber-framed 16th-century houses). The village also has a 1935 listed K6 telephone box to the west of the pub. There's a total of 19 listed buildings in the parish.[5]

Although there are now no shops, there is a 15th-century pub called The Queen's Head (formerly known as the Queen Inn).[6]

Church

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The 15th-century church, St Mary's is very unusual in that it is placed on the green. It is reputed to be the only church in Suffolk located in this way.[7] It is a Grade I listed building, and includes a painted panel depicting St Dorothy and a square font with carved panels thought to date from the 12th-century.[8]

 
Grade I-listed Thurston End Hall, Hawkedon (from geograph.org.uk)

Notable residents

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Lady Pauline Trevelyan (1816-1866); painter & socialite.

References

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  1. ^ a b Estimates of Total Population of Areas in Suffolk Archived 2008-12-19 at the Wayback Machine Suffolk County Council
  2. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  3. ^ "Hawkedon | Domesday Book". opendomesday.org. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Hawkedon | As described in John Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the British Isles (1887)". www.visionofbritain.org.uk. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  5. ^ "Listed Buildings in Hawkedon, St Edmundsbury, Suffolk". britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  6. ^ "Hawkedon summary from". Suffolk Camra. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  7. ^ "Suffolk Churches". Suffolk Churches. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  8. ^ Good Stuff IT Services. "Church of St Mary - Hawkedon - Suffolk - England". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 15 May 2013.

External sources

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  Media related to Hawkedon at Wikimedia Commons