Hawsker is the name for the combined villages of High and Low Hawsker that straddle the A171 road south east of

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

, in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, England.

History

The name Hawsker derives from

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

and means Haukr's enclosure. The settlement was listed in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...

as belonging to Earl Hugh in ''Nortreding''. Hawsker was originally in the parish of Whitby, but in 1878 it was split off into its own parish (

Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre is a civil parish in the Scarborough district of North Yorkshire, England. According to the 2011 UK census, Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre parish had a population of 790, up from the 2001 UK census figure of 763. There is a ...

) along with neighbouring hamlet of Stainsacre where the parish church of All Saints is located. the population of the parish is 790 and includes the hamlet of Stainsacre and the wider parish which amounts to over in area. The two settlements of High and Low Hawsker are divided by the A171 road between Whitby and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

; Low Hawsker lies to the west of the road and High Hawsker lies to the east. Low Hawsker used to have a working windmill; this was built in 1861 by George Burnett and was known to be in use up until 1915. The upper storeys were removed in 1960, but the lower portion is still in the village. Between July 1885 and March 1965, Hawsker had a station on the

Scarborough & Whitby Railway The Scarborough & Whitby Railway was a railway line from Scarborough to Whitby in North Yorkshire, England. The line followed a difficult but scenic route along the North Yorkshire coast. The line opened in 1885 and closed in 1965 as part of ...

line. The track was left in situ for potash traffic that never was realised, however, a new potash mine at Sneatonthorpe (to the west) is due to open for mining in 2021. The trackbed is now a long-distance path and cycleway, with the old station now housing a cycle hire business. There is a primary school in the village that caters for students from the Hawsker-cum-Stainsacre parish and was rated as being 'Good' by Ofsted in 2013.

Caedmon College Caedmon College is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. The school is named after Cædmon, the earliest English (Northumbrian) poet whose name is known. Established in 1912 as the County School, ...

and

Eskdale School Eskdale School is a coeducational secondary school located in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. The school is named after Eskdale, a valley that runs from Whitby to Westerdale. It is a community school administered by North Yorkshire County ...

, both in Whitby, provide secondary education for students from Hawsker and Stainsacre. An hourly bus service connects the village with Whitby,

Robin Hood's Bay Robin Hood's Bay is a small fishing village and a bay located in the North York Moors National Park, south of Whitby and north of Scarborough on the coast of North Yorkshire, England. Bay Town, its local name, is in the ancient chapelry of ...

and Scarborough. This is increased to half-hourly through the summer daytimes.

References

{{authority control Villages in North Yorkshire