Village History
Hawkridge is one of the oldest communities on the moor. Lying on the trackway that crosses the Barle at Tarr Steps, and in sight of the barrows on Anstey Common, it’s origins are very ancient. Certainly the church is one of the few on Exmoor to have Norman features and it almost certainly has Saxon foundations. By Victorian times the parish population was more than double what it is today, reflecting more working farmsteads, more cottages and greater numbers of people needed to manage the soil.
In 1867 it was reported that houses at Hawkridge were generally good with gardens and allotments, but aside from “The Rectory” at Tarr Steps, built to take advantage of the Romantic situation and which had a walled garden, the village did not have big houses. Life can still be challenging in this most characteristic of Exmoor settlements. Lifestyles have changed enough to enable the creation of the houses and gardens that are in the village today. The properties, take full advantage of the views out to the sweeping moorland landscape, once looked on as a “filthy, barren ground” but now regarded as one of Hawkridge’s great visual attractions.
