Hawkshead Courthouse

(S/E) From the front door of the Queens Head, turn right. Turn right through the archway into Red Lion Yard.

(1) Pass to the left of a stone barn at the bottom to a hand gate. Cross the road into the driveway opposite. Swing right at the first entrance then left, and descend to a footbridge over Black Beck. Turn left after the footbridge and follow the beckside footpath; ignoring a path to the right, continue through a gate and follow the beck for three quarters of a mile.

(2) At the end, go through another gate into a farm/campsite entrance and turn left to the road. Turn right to the entrance to visit Hawkshead Courthouse. On exiting the Courthouse drive, turn back towards Hawkshead and pass the farm entrance on your left and the road to Hawkshead Hill and Coniston on your right. Beyond the junction, follow the Hawkshead road for 150 yards. At the first house, turn right up the driveway. After 200 yards, at the entrance to Keen Grounds, turn left into a field and bear right.

(3) After a pair of trees, the path bears left to a kissing gate. Cross the field ahead to a stile. Follow the path ahead across the field to a pair of stone gateposts, where you will find a kissing gate. Turn left down the track, then shortly turn right into a lane with a slab wall on the left. After a gate at the end of the drive, bear left on a clear path across the field. Turn left through a gate, and follow another slab wall towards the church. Keep right of the churchyard past the Old Grammar School and out to the road. Turn left to return to the Queens Head. (S/E)

Wet grass in places after rain; one stile. The key for Hawkshead Courthouse can be borrowed from the National Trust shop in Hawkshead on receipt of a small deposit.

Hawkshead Courthouse is all that survives of a monastic grange. Built in the 1400s, it once served as the gatehouse into a courtyard and is unique in Lakeland. It is a Grade II* listed building.