Hawstead is a small village and civil parish in the

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

district of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in eastern England. It is located south of Bury St. Edmunds between the B1066 and A134 roads, in a fork formed by the

River Lark The River Lark is a river in England that crosses the border between Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. It is a tributary of the River Great Ouse, and was extended when that river was re-routed as part of drainage improvements. It is thought to have be ...

and a small tributary. The place-name 'Hawstead' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Haldsteada''. The name is thought to mean 'a place of shelter for cattle'. Hawstead Place, previously the seat of the Drury family, is now a farmhouse.

Sir William Drury Sir William Drury (2 October 152713 October 1579) was an English statesman and soldier. Family William Drury, born at Hawstead in Suffolk on 2 October 1527, was the third son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503–1577) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshi ...

was

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

and knight of the shire for

. Lt Col Edward Robert Drury, son of Rev Sir William Drury, was the first General Manager and President of the Queensland Bank of Australia now the

National Australia Bank National Australia Bank (abbreviated NAB, branded nab) is one of the four largest financial institutions in Australia (colloquially referred to as "The Big Four") in terms of market capitalisation, earnings and customers. NAB was ranked 21st-la ...

; he named his Queensland home 'Hawstead' in 1875.

Lady Drury's Closet Lady Drury's Closet (also known as the Hawstead Panels) is a series of painted wooden panels of early 17th-century date, currently installed in the room over the porch of Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough ...

(also known as the Hawstead Panels), now in Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich, is a series of painted wooden panels of early 17th-century date. They originally decorated a painted closet adjacent to a bedroom in Hawstead Place. It is believed they were made for Anne Drury, Lady Drury, wife of Sir Robert Drury, who died in 1624.

Demography

According to the Office for National Statistics, at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, Hawstead had a population of 334 with 121 households. falling to a population of 134 in 56 households at the 2011 Census.

Population change

Location grid

References

External links

1841-1911 Census Returns for Hawstead
Villages in Suffolk Civil parishes in Suffolk Borough of St Edmundsbury {{Suffolk-geo-stub