England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hawkchurch St John the Baptist

The Parish

Until 1896 the parish of Hawkchurch was one the westernmost parishes in Dorset, that year it was transferred to Devon becoming one of that county's easternmost parishes. Hawkchurch is located just over 3 miles northeast of the Devon town of Axminster and stands a little over a mile northwest of the B3165 road which connects from the A35 east of Axminster, via a meandering course, through to Crewkerne in Somerset. The escarpment of the chalk here is partially split into twin sub-escarpments, Hawkchurch is built down the slope of the lower and gentler portion, a linear village with a single main street climbing the hill. The parish commanded a swathe of land rising from the banks of the River Axe to the top of the Downs, a varied landscape from clay-rich pastures through arable fields to sheep runs on the higher thinner pastures. A noted local crop was the growing of flax & hemp which supported a major industry within the village, roughly 25% of the workforce were employed in spinning twine, Axminster would have made the most use of the product in carpet manufacture. The chalk and limestone of the parish was also exploited but mainly for burning for lime. A prominent local landmark on the edge of the parish is Lambert's Castle an Iron Age hill-fort built roughly 2,500 years ago it features prominent earthwork ditches and banks with  sweeping views toward the Jurassic Coast to the south, for almost 250 years it also featured a racecourse and an annual fair. Hawkchurch is drained westwards by the Blackwater River which soon meets the Axe which takes water more southwards through Axminster to reach the English Channel at Seaton. The village of Hawkchurch rises from 110 to 165 metres along its main street, the local high point is of course Lambert's Castle at 256 metres above the sea and carrying the regional Wessex Ridgeway Trail en route from Marlborough to Lyme Regis. Hawkchurch was a large parish of a little over 3,900 acres which would have supported a population of close to 800 parishioners. Hawkchurch is not mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

St John's church stands on the eastern side of Hawkchurch Road towards the top of the village. The church has ancient fabric which we are fortunate to have retained considering the church was allegedly rebuilt in 1861, that rebuild now appears to be cursory given the historical fabric that remains. Whilst the was a pre-Conquest church here nothing survives from that period, the earliest architecture standing is the 12th century Norman Romanesque chancel arch. At this stage, the church was a simple two-cell structure consisting solely of a nave and a chancel. From the mid-12th century the church began to be expanded by adding of aisles & arcades, the northern pair came first in the mid-12th century and is Norman Romanesque in style whilst the southern version dates from c1200 during the brief Transitional style with a mixture of Romanesque and Early English Gothic elements. The church's interior is most famous for its sculpted arcade capitals. The mid-12th-century north arcade displays robust round arches with heavy, square scalloped capitals. In contrast, the south arcade features highly ornate early Gothic carvings of realistic foliage interwoven with small human and animal figures, it has been stylistically linked to the medieval craftsmen of the Wells Cathedral workshop. Matters rested until the early 16th century when, sponsored by Lady Cecily Bonville (Marchioness of Dorset) the impressive 4-stage Perpendicular western tower was built between 1503 & 1530, in keeping with Perpendicular motifs it features a northern polygonal stair-turret and an embattlemented parapet. Whilst the restoration of 1861 did not destroy the features for which the church is prized it did rebuild & enlarge the chancel, rebuilt the exterior walls of the aisle, inserted a clerestory and added the hammerbeam roof. By way of interest the young Thomas Hardy, then an apprentice architect, was involved in the compilation of the plans for that restoration. Hawkchurch Road is quite narrow but a prominent junction with the village phone-box allows a little space for on-street parking. The churchyard, whilst quite compact, has no significant obstacles for the photographer.