Hawkshead Hall was the administrative centre for this northern outpost of the Abbey's estate. Here the monks would receive tithes, collect wool and despatch it for spinning and weaving, and sell on the woven pieces of cloth. The trade in woollen goods was highly profitable for the monks - providing over a quarter of the Abbey's entire income.

After the dissolution of Furness Abbey in 1537, Hawkshead's extensive sheep pastures were acquired by local yeoman farmers. Much of the open common land was appropriated as ‘intake land' and became part of the ‘grounds' of farm holdings, such as at Walker Ground, Keen Ground and Roger Ground. The lowland pastures were often given over to arable crops, whilst the sheep were left to graze the less productive land on the higher fellsides.

The continuing practice of enclosure led to the proliferation of dry stone walls that are so predominant in the Lake District today. Characteristic features of the area are lines of upright flags forming field boundaries. These flags were skilfully chamfered to interlock with neighbouring flags and form a continuous ‘wall' of stone.

The Crier of Claife

In earlier times it was the custom to call for a rowing boat when one was required. One stormy night, a call was answered by a ferryman who rowed across the lake to Bowness only to return in a state of shock. The next morning he developed a rapid fever and died. Thereafter, on stormy nights whenever there were strange calls for a boat from Ferry Nab, no-one would dare go. Eventually a priest exorcised the Crier of Claife to a quarry on Claife Heights, but occasionally the ghostly calls for a boat can still be heard.

High Wray was the scene of a series of murders in 1672, all carried out by one man - Thomas Lancaster. Thomas wanted to marry a local girl from High Wray who was already betrothed to someone else, so he bribed her father to allow him to marry her instead; an event which took place on 1 Jan 1672. Shortly afterwards, Lancaster poisoned his wife, her father, her three sisters, her former fiancé, her aunt and a servant, and to make it look like a local epidemic, went on to poison some of his neighbours. At his trial he was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was hung from his own front door at High Wray Farm, and then taken by horse and cart to Poole Stang where his body was placed on a gibbet to rot away.

The villagers of Hawkshead lived busy lives. All manner of trades were carried on - saddlery, leatherwork, basket-making, smithy work and shoe mending. In 1608 Hawkshead received its market charter and could hold regular markets for the buying and selling of goods. The open-fronted shops beneath Market House (Town Hall) were known as the Shambles. On market days butchers from far and wide would congregate here to sell their meat products.

By the mid-17th century, the woollen industry was in decline. To help the local wool trade, Parliament passed a law which decreed that all corpses must be wrapped in woollen shrouds for burial. Hawkshead church holds nearly 200 of these shroud certificates: a copy of one dated 1696 is on display near the entrance door.

William Wordsworth came here in 1779. His mother had recently died and he and his brother Richard were sent to Hawkshead Grammar School to finish their schooling. Both boys lodged in the village with Ann Tyson, a local widow (and later at Colthouse when Mrs Tyson moved there). His adolescent experience of the natural world around Hawkshead had a lasting effect, and was recalled in his poetry of later years.

Beatrix Potter was particularly fond of the Hawkshead area, having spent holidays in the area before with her parents. In 1905 she bought Hill Top Farm at Near Sawrey on the proceeds from her recently published book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit. This traditional Lakeland farm was a special place for Beatrix and many of her animal characters were set in the house and garden and surrounding landscape. After the purchase of Hill Top, Beatrix Potter acquired more Lakeland farms (many in the Hawkshead area) and began to develop a new interest in farming and conservation. By the early 1940s she had built up a sizeable estate of some 4000 acres including 15 farms; most of which was bequeathed to the National Trust on her death in 1943.