Hawkesbury was designated as a conservation area on 19th August 1981. A copy of the full statutory conservation area leaflet and maps - the result of a public consultation process, can now be downloaded in Adobe Acrobat pdf format.
Setting
Hawkesbury village enjoys a sheltered position as it nestles in a wooden coombe below the Cotswold scarp just off the A46. The village is centered around the Church of St Mary the Virgin (grade I-listed), the Old Parsonage (grade II-listed) and Church Farm (grade II-listed), with Pound Farm (grade II-listed) and Court Farm (grade II-listed) further away round a bend in the road. The landscape provides a rich and historically important backdrop to the village with Hawkesbury Knoll, a grassy-topped hill topped by a long barrow, in the distance. Hawkesbury lies within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
History
The parish church of St Mary (grade I-listed) dominates the village. It dates back to the 12th century and is on the site of a Saxon church. Most of the church is in the perpendicular style of the late 14th and 15th centuries and was restored between 1882-85 by W.Wood Bethell of Bristol. The height of the church is particularly striking, as is its formidable size. Within the churchyard there are tombs which form a fine collection of classical and local forms, contributing greatly to the setting of the church.
The Old Vicarage (grade II-listed), directly to the east of the church, is a fine building, large in size and 'L-shaped' in form, thought to date from around the late 15th century. The building has a two storey gabled porch and a garden building is located to the rear of the vicarage with gothic arched windows dating from the late 18th century.
Evidence exists to suggest that the village was the former site of a monastic grange and subsequently a mediaeval manor. Church Farm (grade II-listed) to the west of the church is thought to include parts of the monastic grange constructed around 1500. This would formerly have been used by absentee landlords (in this case the abbot of Pershore) on their regular visits to collect taxes and administer justice. The main north-east wing of Church Farm was formerly the monastic malthouse where barley would have been laid out to dry prior to brewing. Adjacent to Church Farm, approximately 9 metres to the south-west stands a small tent-shaped cottage (grade II-listed), identified as a late 16th century detached kitchen of the monastic grange and/or the later manor house. Exterior kitchens were used to lessen the risk of fire to the main house and their survival now is very rare.
The remains of three great fishponds, also associated with the monastic grange, are situated at the foot of the Cotswold scarp behind Church Farm. These were once used for breeding fish. Ponds were normally in a simple series, usually two or three small ponds in a coombe in the scarp. These are large by contemporary standards, the lowest of which was also used as a millpond. Another important source of food during the mediaeval period was rabbit. Hawkesbury Warren, to the north, was specifically set aside for this purpose and, of course, the by-product of fur was also of considerable value.
After the dissolution of the Abbey of Pershore in 1539 the mediaeval manor developed. The manor house stood to the north of the Church, in large part replacing the monastic grange. It was probably built by John Butler of Badminton, to whom the Manor of Hawkesbury was granted by Henry VII in 1546. In 1664 the Badminton Deer Park was enlarged to include Hawkesbury with the manor playing an important role within the estate. By 1779 however, the manor house is described as having been uninhabitable for someone and 'gone to decay' and was eventually pulled down in the early 19th century. Hawkesbury Manor is now a buried site and its most impressive remains are its formal garden terrace. Also associated with this manor are the earthwork remains of a memorial hunting park, warrens and fishponds.
To the north-east, the remains of a deer park have been found and it is likely that Hawkesbury Park was quite a late creation because it was close to the manor house. Earlier parks tended to be on the fringes of parishes away from settlements and cultivated areas.
To the west of the village lies the village pound, almost certainly mediaeval in origin. Two farmhouses, Pound Farm and Court Farm, lie adjacent to the pound. Pound Farm dates from the 17th century while Court Farm may date from as early as the mediaeval period.
Earthwork remains at Hawkesbury suggest the existence of additional houses, roads and mediaeval strip farming, but it seems likely that much of the population moved to Hawkesbury Upton during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Hawkesbury Upton
Hawkesbury Upton lies on the southern escarpment of the Cotswolds situated one mile to the west of the A46, the once important Cirencester to Bath turnpike road.
Hawkesbury Upton was granted a market charter in 1252. However, it was badly sited away from a main road and consequently failed. The plan of the town today shows that an attempt was made to lay out a market town with burgage plots. The 'town' was in fact laid directly over the furlongs of an open field system and the property boundaries still follow the line of curving arable strips today.
The town itself is linear in character with the village green forming a focal point within the settlement. At one time this was the centre of village activity where the maypole stood. Now the site is occupied by the village memorial cross and the village pump.
To the north of the village green lies Back Street, a long, straight road enclosed at the far end by Big House, an elegant Georgian property built in the late 18th century by Sir Matthew Hale when he was Lord Chief Justice of England. The street was originally the driveway to this house and is now flanked on one side by an attractive row of 18th and 19th century cottages.
The High Street of Hawkesbury Upton contains a number of interesting 17th and 18th century buildings, including the vicarage (grade II-listed), Bakers House (grade II-listed) and Upton House (grade II-listed). The houses are of a domestic scale and nature, many of which were probably connected with the prosperous 17th century weaving industry in the village.
To the northern end of the High Street, just outside the town, is the village pond - triangular in shape and bordering the road. Animals on their way to market would have been watered here, there being few other opportunities on the high ground. The pond provides a pleasant setting for the listed buildings grouped along the northern side.
Somerset Monument
Beyond Home Farm (grade II-listed) the imposing tower of the Somerset Monument (grade II*-listed) rises. It was built in 1846 by Lewis Vulliamy and stands in memory of Robert Edward Henry Somerset, a nephew of the Sixth Duke of Beaufort who was a general at Waterloo and who died in 1842. The slightly tapering square tower is approximately 100 feet high and a notable landmark, especially when viewed with the Tyndale Monument at North Nibley to the north-west. The lodge adjacent to the monument was also built in 1846 and is by contrast small in scale, being one storey with attics above.