The Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Hawkley.
We do not find Hawkley mentioned in the Doomsday Book, but there are references to it in records of the 13th and 10 centuries under a variety of spellings such as Hauekleghe. It is a settlement that grew up in a clearing up on the hanger overlooking the plains. This was known as the "Hoec-leigh" or "the clearing on the ridge".
Hawkley may originally have been part of the manor of Newton Valence, and the ecclesiastical Parish of Hawkley did not come into being until 1860, before this being a "Chapel" in the Parish of Newton Valence. The English radical and political writer William Cobbett passed through Hawkley on his Rural Rides, and sets the scene:
"On we trotted up this pretty green lane and indeed, we had been coming gently and generally uphill for a good while. The lane was between highish banks and pretty high stuff growing on the banks. So that we could see no distance from us, and could receive not the smallest hint of what was so near at hand. The lane had a little turn towards the end; so that, out we came, all in a moment, at the very edge of the hanger! And never, in all my life, was I so surprised and so delighted! I pulled up my horse, and sat and looked; and it was like looking from the top of a castle down into the sea, except that the valley was land and not water. I looked at my servant, to see what effect this unexpected sight had upon him. His surprise was as great as mine was, though he had been bred amongst the North Hampshire hills. Those who had so strenuously dwelt on the dirt and dangers of this route had said not a word about beauties, the matchless beauties of the scenery. These hangers are woods on the sides of very steep hills. The trees and underwood hang, in some sort, to the ground, instead of standing on it. Hence these places are called Hangers. From the summit of that which I had now to descend, I looked down upon the villages of Hawkley, Greatham, Selborne and some others."
The present Church was built in 1864 - 65 on the site of the former Chapel of Ease, but the Font remains and dates from about 1190. It is of Purbeck marble with a square bowl on a round shaft. The Architect of the new Church building was Samuel Sanders Teulon. He was of Huguenot descent, born in 1812 at Greenwich, setting up in independent practice in 1838, and being constantly in demand until he died in 1873.
Teulon's earlier designs were generally in Tudor or Elizabethan styles, but he later became a supporter of the Gothic revival; he also restored and recast many Churches. It was J J Maberly, of Hawkley Hurst, for whom he had previously designed a house, who commissioned Teulon to build the Church. It is in stone after a simple design in the Norman style; and the tower is a "Rhenish
Helm", more usually found on the continent, though there is a fine medieval example at Sompting in Sussex. It is not known what were the reasons for the design being used here, nor indeed for any of the designs for the rest of the Church, which are very restrained and must have been entirely different from Teulon's usual style at that date. At all events he has left us a Church which is both suitable to its surroundings, and extremely attractive in itself, and for which we have every reason to be grateful.
The building is cruciform, though the transverse arms terminated by gables containing rose windows do not extend beyond the ground plan of the aisles. The nave is divided into three bays; the pillars, which separate it from the aisles, have elaborately carved capitals, the subjects being emblems of our Lord and of the Evangelists. The corbels supporting the open timbered roof are carved into the forms of the trees mentioned in Scripture, the palm, plane, ebony, vine, pomegranate, fig, gourd, olive, and rose of Sharon. The corbels in the aisles are angels.
The east window consists of three lights, above which is a circular window. These are memorial windows and filled with painted glass by Ward and Hughes. In the centre is the Ascension, and on either side, the Baptism of Christ or the Last Supper. The rose window above depicts Christ in majesty. Windows in the aisles contain figures of the Twelve Apostles.
In the south wall of the chancel there was a particularly fine carved alabaster panel, of English work, depicting the betrayal of Christ by Judas. This was stolen in the 1980's, but we are fortunate to have a carved wooden replica of it. It is suggested in the Victoria County History of Hampshire that it originally formed part of the reredos of the old Church, but this is not certain. The stone pulpit was removed in 1996, and its base now forms the Altar in the Maberly Chapel.
The Organ is a 10-century instrument, by the London firm of Bevington, originally with a mechanical or tracker action. Ivemey & Cooper rebuilt it in 1939, with pneumatic action. In 1999 Henry Willis & Sons, with electric action, and the addition of a second manual rebuilt it.
At the East End of the south aisle, in the arch above the organ screen, are the Hawkley Mural, installed in 1991, and the work of local artist, Sally Maltby. Above the words, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills", it depicts the cycle of life in the countryside.
In the belfry there are eight bells, three of them from the old church, two from about 1450 and one from 1624. When the present church was built, Rebecca Maberley presented two more bells. In 1900, another was added in memory of Churchwarden George Wakeford, and Mr. and Mrs. Clive Davies gave the last two in memory of their son Harold, killed in action with the Royal Navy in World War II. The Tenor weighs 5 cwt. 1 qtr. 25 1bs. and was recast in 1997 in memory of former Tower Captain, Charles Pound. It replaced the one given by Rebecca Maberly in 1867.
To mark the millennium, a new west window was installed. It is the work of Simon Whistler, and depicts a cockerel, and the crossed key and sword, emblem of St. Peter and St. Paul. The Archdeacon of the Meon, the Ven. Peter Hancock, dedicated it at a special service in September 2000.