St Michael and All Angels Church, Hawkshead
Explore the history and literary connections of this idyllic Lake District Church, refurbished by the Archbishop of York, and where a young William Wordsworth once prayed
Like many churches dedicated to St Michael, Hawkshead’s St Michael and All Angels crowns a hill. This heavenly vantage point overlooks the chimneys and rooftops of this idyllic Lakeland village, with Ambleside’s Central Fells forming a glorious backdrop.
There are five entrances to the churchyard. Three come from The Square, while a fourth leads up from the Grammar School Museum. The most picturesque route is from the public footpath from Roger Ground.
This idyllic right of way, lined with a stone flag fence, heads towards what Pevsner described in his Buildings of England as, “one of the best Lake District Churches”.
Originally, a Norse chapel stood here, built in the early 12th century by monks from nearby Hawkshead Hall. The village’s name is a corruption of Haukr’s saetr, whereby Haukr is Norse for “settler on the land”, and saetr means the…
