Hawkesbury Upton is a village in

South Gloucestershire South Gloucestershire is a unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, South West England. Towns in the area include Yate, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, Filton, Patchway and Bradley Stoke, the latter three forming part ...

, England, east of the much smaller

Hawkesbury Hawkesbury or Hawksbury may refer to: People *Baron Hawkesbury, or Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool (1727-1808), English statesman Places ;Geography *Hawkesbury Island, an island in British Columbia, Canada * Hawkesbury Island, Queensland ...

. It lies north of

Horton Horton may refer to: Places Antarctica * Horton Glacier, Adelaide Island, Antarctica * Horton Ledge, Queen Elizabeth Land, Antarctica Australia * Horton, Queensland, a town and locality in the Bundaberg Region * Horton River (Australia), ...

, east of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Alderley and Hillesley. Hawkesbury Upton is close to the

A46 road The A46 is a major A road in England. It starts east of Bath, Somerset and ends in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, but it does not form a continuous route. Large portions of the old road have been lost, bypassed, or replaced by motorway developmen ...

. The village lies on the

Cotswold Way The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath, running along the Cotswold Edge escarpment of the Cotswold Hills in England. It was officially inaugurated as a National Trail on 24 May 2007 and several new rights of way have been created. His ...

and exhibits many of the characteristics of a Cotswold village, including use of the local limestone in the majority of the buildings. The village has two pubs – the ''Beaufort Arms'' and the ''Fox Inn'', both on the High Street – a primary school, a village shop, a post office and a hair salon. There is a village hall with a recreation ground and a cricket club. On the last Saturday in August, the annual Hawkesbury Horticultural Show takes place at the village hall and recreation ground. The show features a large marquee, where fruit, vegetables and flowers, as well as home baking, varied crafts, home made wine and beer, original photographs and pictures are exhibited – all produced by the community. There is entertainment in the arena, a carnival procession, fairground rides and local craft, trade and charity stalls. The show has run continuously since 1885 - never once cancelled for adverse weather or war - something which villagers are extremely proud of, although the 2020 show was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom The COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the United Kingdom, it has resulted in confir ...

Somerset Monument

The Somerset Monument stands on the

Cotswold Edge The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Juras ...

escarpment, about half a mile from the village on the road towards Hillesley. Built in

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

and designed by

Lewis Vulliamy Lewis Vulliamy (15 March 1791 – 4 January 1871) was an English architect descended from the Vulliamy family of clockmakers. Life Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 17 ...

, it was constructed in 1846 as a memorial to

Lord Edward Somerset General Lord Robert Edward Henry Somerset (19 December 17761 September 1842) was a British soldier who fought during the Peninsular War and the War of the Seventh Coalition. Life Somerset was the third son of Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beauf ...

, who led the British cavalry at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. The monument is a slightly tapering square tower, about high. The first keeper of the monument was Shadrack Byfield, a one-armed veteran of the Anglo-American

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

. Byfield, a native of

Bradford on Avon Bradford-on-Avon (sometimes Bradford on Avon or Bradford upon Avon) is a town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England, near the border with Somerset, which had a population of 9,402 at the 2011 census. The town's canal, historic buildings, s ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, lived in Hawkesbury Upton from 1843 to 1856.

Hawkesbury Stallions Football Club

The village was also home to a football club, the Hawkesbury Stallions. The club was founded by villagers Simon Warren and Ollie Gillman in 2009, after the previous iteration of the side collapsed some years earlier. The club were due to play in

Stroud and District League The Stroud and District Football League is a football competition based in England. The league was established in 1902 and is affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA. It has a total of six divisions with the highest, Division One, sitting a ...

Division 6 when they folded in 2014.

2009–10 season

The Stallions spent their first two seasons in the basement of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the Isl ...

Division 8. With a team of mostly 16 and 17-year-olds, guided by centre half Clive Warren, the Stallions let in 80 goals including a 13-1 defeat to Avonvale United 3rds in their second competitive match, away to

Tetbury Tetbury is a town and civil parish inside the Cotswold district in England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxon monastery was founded, probably by Ine of Wessex, in 681. The population of the parish was 5,250 in ...

. Sixteen supporters were in attendance for the Stallions' first league game, a 5-6 home defeat to Stroud Imperial Reserves a week earlier at The Rec. The Stallions finished 10th out of 12 that season, not helped by a controversial docking of points for failing to field a side against Sharpness 3rds on Easter Monday, when many players refused to play for religious reasons.

2010–11 season

Another 10th place finish in the league followed for the Stallions in their second season, with the club going through a transition period as many of their original players left the village for university and work.

2011–12 season

The Stallions achieved promotion to Division 7 after finishing second in Division 8, narrowly missing out on the title after finishing one point behind Trident. The season also saw the Stallions achieve their biggest win in their five-year history: a 19-0 away win over Alkerton Rangers Reserves, who finished the season with -1 points.

2012–13 season

The 2012-13 season was a story of revenge, with the Stallions hammering Avonvale United 3rds 13-1 in an exact reversal of their second ever competitive game three years earlier. Other notable results include beating local rivals Wickwar Wanderers Reserves 4-0 away and drawing 2-2 with them at home. The Stallions finished 5th out of 11 in their first year in Division 7.

2013–14 season

The Stallions lifted their only piece of silverware in the 2013–14 season as they convincingly won Division 7, finishing nine points clear of their nearest rivals, Rodborough Old Boys. The Stallions only suffered one defeat all season, a 2-1 away loss to Charfield Reserves when the title had already been secured. Season highlights included two more victories over rivals Wickwar Wanderers Reserves. as well as a 16-0 drubbing of Randwick 3rds. The club achieved promotion to Division 6, but folded before the start of the next season.

Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival

The Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival was founded by local author Debbie Young and has been held annually since 2015.

References

External links

Hawkesbury Parish Council

Village website

Hawkesbury Show website
{{South Gloucestershire Villages in South Gloucestershire District