Hawksyard is one of these; its import is Hawksland but its history lies hidden in the records of past centuries; it excites our curiosity and quickens our imagination.
We instinctively recall scenes of English sport in bygone days; of kings and nobles, knights and ladies, riding across the unfenced country; over moorland and waste, through fen and ford, with hooded falcon and stooping hawk, enjoying what was for nearly a thousand years the national sport of England.
Such a scene was brought to mind by the perusal of two musty parchments with imposing seals and faded script, quarried from the lower strata of time-worn muniments, in the office of Colonel Brooke Taylor of Bakewell.
The earlier of these deeds takes us back to the death of John of Gaunt and the resignation of Richard II in the closing year of the 14th century; the later one was sealed and delivered in the less tragic days of Queen Elizabeth.
They both relate to Hawksyard, situate in that part of The Moorlands of Staffordshire known in the middle ages as Highe Frith of Malbanc Forest; south of Buxton and east of the church at Newtown near Longnor.
The deed of John of Gaunt bears date the 15th May 1399, in bold Arabic numerals; it is written in a jargon intended to be Latin and measures 15 × 8½ inches; its round pendent seal of green wax has a diameter of three and a half inches and is nearly an inch thick. The parchment is dark in colour, coarse in texture and much crinkled; the writing is not uniform in character, parts being in a flowing hand suggesting a date long subsequent to the Plantagenets. The deed begins with the word Conventum, meaning a covenant or agreement under seal; but, from the concluding paragraph, it was evidently intended to operate as a deed of gift or grant in fee simple of the lands called Hawksyard.
Photo Ethel Eadon
The following is a transcript with the contractions indicated but not extended:—
Conventum inter Johan' Gaunte Duc' Lancast' quart' fillius Regy' Edvardi tert' et Edvardum Mundy de Marton in Comitatu Derb' equit' Joh'es Ga'nt Dux Lancast' p'mittebat Domin' Edvard' Mundy visere ap'd Marton in Comitat' Derb' p'd q' pariter prestabat Et etiam Dominus Edvardus Mundy iterfaciebat Duc' Lancast' Comitibusq' ejus in Highe Frith parochia Allstonefield Comitatu Staffordiæ Cum in eum locum pase (?) publice p'venirent qui nuncupatur Lady Edge cujus defugabant (?) excitabant Gallos palust' ad quos illico accipitres evertebant apud quos accipitres fuga petebant int' illos Limites ut posthac mention's siant hoc Termino qui expositus erat Avibus volantibus ultro citroq' ad viam publica' qua abduit ab Longnor ad Leeke al' parte circunt quo accipitres pred'am apprehendebant parte juxta mediam circuituo juxta convallem Orient' Decim' Die May' Ann' Dom' 1399 Quamobre' Joh'es Gaunt ei dabat Titulu' nomenq' Hawkesyerd alias Hawksearth propter pred'a apprehensa' inter Limit' qui posthac mentionem fit qui non antehac nuncupabatur ... Aliquae pauce Fundi Partes que posthac mentione' fiunt Viz' alia pars Fundi nuncupatur Harrisons Intake al' pars Fundi nuncupat' House-Fielde quo parva vel Domus stabat al' pars Fundi nuncup' Little Meadow quae ex part' meridional' inter jacet Locu' nuncup' Boothesley Grange al' pars Fundi nuncup' Spart (? Spout) Meadow fluvio adjacans erga Occidentam al' pars Fund' nuncupat' Killn Croffte fluvio adjac' erga Occidente' al' pars Fund' nuncup' Spart (?) al' pars Fundi nuncupat' Rye Pingle erga Occidentem sequia secale illo p'senti anno Cresscebat Limes Hawksyerd alias Hawksearth jacens positusq' in Highe Frith Parochia Allstonefield Comitatuq' Staffordie exposit Johan' Gaunt Duc' Lancast' p'd' inter tales Metas qual' posthac mentione' fiunt attin' illi soli Domo predi'oq' nuncup' Hawksyerd alias Hawksearth p'd ubi est convallis oriental' ejus part' Fluviusq' Curans erga merediem juxta Fluvium int' ilium et Locum nuncup' Banke aut al' Over boothesley Etiam parte meridional' convallus ... et Fluvius currens erga Orient' juxta Fluviu' int' illu' Locumq' nuncup' Bauthsley (sic) Grange illaq' ascendit part' meridional' Funi qui nuncup' Rye Pingle quia jacet erga Occident' et setendit directe ad fugum q'd nuncup' Lady Edge jacens positusq' in Highe Frith Parochia Allstonefield Comitatuq' Stafford' et tunc transjugu' q'd est erga septentrionem directe ad viam publica' quae abducit ab Longnor ad Leeke Etiamq' publica' juxta via' erga Orient' usq' du' directe p'venit ad Convalla' Termino Orientali Tractus praedi'i expositus primo Ann' Regni Regis Henrici Quart' assignabat Limat vel Expellere includere vel admittere ad Sol' proprium usu' Comodumq' illius Domus predi'iq' nuncu'q' Hawksyerd al' Hawksearth p'd etiam Libertinuanu' publi' pascu' jusque effodiendi Cespites p' Desertu' Domin' Allstonefield Dom' Edvardus Mundy de Marton in comitat' Derby (sic) p'd' favore unum suplicabat Joh'es Gaunt Du' Lancastriae quem dicebat consideret Si illi esset postestas Dom' Edvardus ilium orabat et ei daret predi'u' nuncup' Hawksyerd alias Hawksearth p'd' Et Joh'es Gaunt libere Largiebatur et concedebat illi et posteris in Aeturnu' Dom' Edvardus Mundy profesiebatur Joh'e Gaunt Comitibusq' eum visere apud Castrum Lancast' quo Joh'es Gaunt sigillabat Subscribebat et in potestatem Domin' Edvardi Mundy Premis' tot' tradebat decimo quint' Die May Anno D'm' 1399 coram William Stanley Gent John Porter Gent' James Lewis Gent' Wi'm Stanley Gent' Tho's Mundy Gent' John Thornicroft Attorney.