Hawksworth
St Mary and All Saints

Stonework

The lower 13th century part of the church is constructed of skerry stone - Triassic sandstone from the Keuper series, quarried locally or collected from local outcrops. Two fields in Hawksworth are called Near and Far Stone Pit Close. The stone around the west door is Mansfield White stone – a Permian sandstone which although it has only been in position for 150 years, was heavily eroded on one side until restored in April 2012. Pevsner describes this fine grained stone as particularly prone to decay when used externally. The windows appear to be of Lincolnshire limestone.

The upper sections of the church tower are made of brick and the size of the bricks and the bond is variable. The brick local to Hawksworth would be made out of Keuper Marl, a mudstone consisting of clay minerals with a large proportion of desert-blown quartz dust and minute crystals of dolomite. A kiln was recorded in the village in 1652. The sites of two clay pits are known – one was filled in during the 1970s.