Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HACKNESS

HACKNESS, a village, a township, and a parish, in Scarborough district, N. R. Yorkshire. The village stands on the river Derwent, 5½ miles W by N of Scarborough town and r. station; was anciently known as Hactenus or Hacanos; and has a post office underScarborough. The reach of the Derwent's vale around it has picturesque features of wood and cascade, and is flanked by sides about 300 feet high, going off to moorland. The township comprises 1, 940 acres. Real property, £1, 401. Pop., 207. Houses, 32. The parish contains also the townships of Broxa, Silpho, Harwood Dale, and Suffield cumEverley. Acres, 9, 857. Real property, £5, 886. Pop., 658. Houses, 110. The property is divided among a few. The manor was purchased, in 1696, by John Vanden Bempde, and descended from him to the family of Johnstone. Hackness Hall is the seat of Sir J. V. B. Johnstone, Bart.; was erected by the late baronet; and stands amid fine grounds, with extensive gardens. A nunnery was founded at the village by St. Hilda, abbess of Whitby; was destroyed, about 867, by the Danes; was afterwards rebuilt for the use of Benedictine monks; and had four monks at the dissolution. The living is a rcctory, united with the chapelry of Harwood Dale, in the diocese of York. Value, £253.* Patron, Sir J. V. B. Johnstone, Bart. The church is very ancient; has a tower and spire; and contains several interesting monuments, one of them by Chantry.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a township, and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Hackness CP/AP       Scarborough RegD/PLU       Yorkshire AncC
Place names: HACANOS     |     HACKNESS     |     HACTENUS
Place: Hackness

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