Hackness is a village and
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
in
the district
''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series that aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department.
P ...
and
county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies within the
North York Moors National Park. The parish population rose from 125 in the
2001 UK census to 221 in the
2011 UK census
A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...
.
From 1974 to 2023 it was part of the
Borough of Scarborough
The Borough of Scarborough () was a non-metropolitan district with borough status in North Yorkshire, England. In addition to the town of Scarborough, it covered a large stretch of the coast of Yorkshire, including Whitby and Filey. It bordere ...
, it is now administered by the unitary
North Yorkshire Council
North Yorkshire Council, known between 1974 and 2023 as North Yorkshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of North Yorkshire, England. Since 2023 the council has been a unitary authority, being a county coun ...
.
Heritage
Hackness is mentioned as the site of a
double monastery or
nunnery
A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community.
The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican Comm ...
by
Bede
Bede (; ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, Bede of Jarrow, the Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable (), was an English monk, author and scholar. He was one of the most known writers during the Early Middle Ages, and his most f ...
, writing in the early 8th century. The present
St Peter's Church is a Grade I
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
, parts of which date from the 11th century.
The church also possesses fragments of
Hackness Cross dating from the late 8th or early 9th century. These preserve parts of a
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
prayer for Saint
Æthelburh and an illegible inscription, apparently in the
runic alphabet
Runes are the Letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets, known as runic rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...
.
Hackness Hall and its landscape gardens were created in the 1790s. The house, a Grade I listed building, was commissioned by
Sir Richard Van den Bempde-Johnstone, who had inherited the estate through his mother. A new entrance was added in 1810. Fire damage in 1910 was restored under the direction of
Walter Brierley.
Governance
Hackness & Harwood Dale Group Parish Council covers a total of the six parishes:
Broxa-cum-Troutsdale,
Darncombe-cum-Langdale End, Hackness,
Harwood Dale,
Silpho and
Suffield-cum-Everley. From 1974 to 2023 it was in
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, sub ...
district.
Sports
There is a tennis club in the village with three grass courts and two hard courts, on the road to Lowdales and Highdales. The club was able to celebrate 90 years of tennis in Hackness in 2013.
Notable people
In birth order:
*
Hilda of Whitby (c. 614–680), saint, died in Hackness.
*
Begu (nun)
Saint Begu (died 31 October 690) was a nun and later became a saint from Hackness, Yorkshire (Deira).Farmer, David (1992). ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints.'' Oxford University Press. p.44. She served at the monastic cell in the nunnery of Hacknes ...
(died 690), saint, lived in the Nunnery in Hackness.
*
Lady Margaret Hoby (1571–1633) was
lady of the manor, kept the earliest known female diary in English (1599–1605).
*
Sir Thomas Posthumous Hoby (1566–1640) was
lord of the manor
Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...
, as his wife's heir, and a possible inspiration for Shakespeare's Malvolio in ''
Twelfth Night
''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
''.
*
Matthew Noble (1818–1876), sculptor, made the bust of
William Smith (geologist)
William 'Strata' Smith (23 March 1769 – 28 August 1839) was an English geologist, credited with creating the first detailed, nationwide geological map of any country. At the time his map was first published he was overlooked by the scientific ...
, who was employed at Hackness Hall.
Geological Society site
/ref>
* Arthur Irvin (1848–1945), cricketer and clergyman
See also
* Listed buildings in Hackness
References
External links
Hackness & Harwood Dale Group Parish Council website
{{authority control
Villages in North Yorkshire
Civil parishes in North Yorkshire