Lancashire

Churches

A church with extensive C17 and C18 mural paintings

Hawkshead church sits on a small hill looking out over the roofs of the Lakeland village. The dedication to St Michael is very common for a church built on a hill. We first hear of the "capella de Hawkeset" shortly after 1200 when its revenues were transferred to the Abbot of Furness. No definite remains of that time can be seen today, but Pevsner suggest C13 for the jambs of the north doorway, and it is likely that some of the walling dates from the C14. The bulk of the building is, however, of the C16 and C17.

The church we see today has an unbuttressed west tower of undressed local Silurian stone. The top is finished with corner pinnacles and battlements. Below are rectangular bell openings. On the west face is a two-light rectangular window divided by a mullion: below is a small west door with a pointed arch with a single chamfer all round. The body of the church is a nave and chancel under the same roofline with aisles, clerestories, and south and north porches (the latter added as late as 1933). The same local stone is used throughout, with the exception of some of the doorways and windows which have dressed freestone from Low Furness. Many of the windows date from the C19 restoration and are quite conventional. However, those of the north aisle are a distinctive variation on a late C16 and C17 theme. They have square hoodmoulds, three or five lights with arched tops, and most unusual rounded mouldings. A doorway in the aisle has an angled head with a panel. This shows the date of the building of the aisle - 1578 - and the initials of the donor - E.S. The latter refers to Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York, and a native of the parish. At the time that he donated the north aisle, Sandys also raised the walls of the church by adding clerestories with four three-light windows on each side. On the south side the frames are of stone, but on the north side they are of oak, and are probably original.

The appearance of the outside of St Michael is that of a typical, quite dour looking, North Country church. But it wasn't always so. In fact, until 1875 the exterior of the building was covered in roughcast and painted white! In "The Prelude" Wordsworth recalled the appearance of the church on his return to Hawkshead in 1788, at the end of his first year at Cambridge:

"I saw the snow-white church upon her hill

Sit like a throned lady sending out

A gracious look all over her domain."

The interior of the church is white plastered throughout, and has nave and chancel in one with no separating arch. At the west end is a pointed tower arch. The five bay nave arcades are an odd design, and at one time were thought to be Norman. But the plain round arches, devoid of bases and capitals, are likely to be C16. The columns on the north side are round, whilst those on the south are nearly square, with rounded corners. In about 1680 James Addison of Hornby, Lancs, was asked to decorate the whitewashed walls of the church with "ye sentences in ye places poynted oute & marked and to border & florish them...: alsoe to Border ye Arches & round..."

It is likely, therefore, that the yellow and black borders of the arches, and the other patterns on the columns are his designs. A further example of his work is the quotation from Ecclesiastes, on a painted panel with cherub, near the north porch entrance. Addison was a popular painter of church interiors in Cumberland and Westmorland, and did other work at Kendal (1684) and Grasmere (1687).

In 1711 William Mackreth of Hawkshead was paid to do further painting. He seems to have both restored Addison's work and added to it. His work includes the Creed, Lord's Prayer and Commandments that flank the east window, the list of churchwardens for 1711, and certain other panels, including that shown here. The scheme of wall paintings was damaged by the erection of a west gallery in 1711. But worse befell the remainder in 1794 or 1795 when they were all whitewashed over! In 1875-6 many were restored and repainted, and in 1955 more work was done to ensure their survival.

At the east end of the north aisle is the Sandys Chapel. This contains a C16 table tomb erected by Archbishop Edwin Sandys as a memorial to his parents, William and Margaret. They show the squire in armour with a lion at his feet, and his wife in a gown with a lap dog. A Latin inscription records their virtues and fame of their son. On either side of the tower arch are two marble memorials that were formerly in St Dionis Backchurch, Fenchurch St, London. They were placed in Hawkshead church in 1878 when the London church was demolished. The older memorial commemorates Daniel Rawlinson (d. 1679), a vintner of London, and native of Grizedale. He attended Hawkshead Grammar school as a boy, and became a benefactor, founding the library, and leaving further monies to the church. The other Rawlinson memorial is to Thomas, his son (d. 1708), who was Lord Mayor of London in 1706. An interesting selection of later monuments can be seen in the church.

The church's register chest dates from 1603, and is made of a hollowed oak beam nearly 7 feet long. A ring of six bells was hung in 1765. They were made by James Harrison of Barrow, Lincolnshire. Two additional bells were added in 1958. An unusual feature of the church is the location of the organ - it is suspended from the roof! The churchyard has a C17 sundial bearing the inscription "Lat. 54 50 Anno Dom. 1693, and a War Memorial cross of 1919 designed by W.G. Collingwood. This is based on the design of the Gosforth Cross.

View from the south west

The church is mainly of the C16 and C17, and was formerly rendered and painted white!

Nave looking east

The walls - plastered and painted white, are decorated with "Scripture decently Florished".

"Shapeless piers and shapeless arches"

Pevsner's description is prompted by the odd piers which have neither bases nor capitals .

Wall painting

A painted panel of 1711 by William Mackreth of Hawkshead.

North aisle window (c.1578)

The rounded moulding is unusual. It probably dates from Archbishop Sandys' rebuilding.

Memorial to Daniel Rawlinson (d.1679)

Rawlinson was a native of Grizedale, near Hawkshead, who became a London vintner.

Photographs and text © Tony Boughen