Hackthorn brings together several historical themes: Hackthorn Hall is a Grade I listed country house, the remains of a medieval settlement lie in Hackthorn Park, and the Church of St Michael adds another building phase to the picture. There are also gardens with formal and practical areas. This provides a clear guide to choosing a place to stay based on your interests: architecture, designed landscapes or archaeological traces.
Hackthorn Hall and its designed landscape
Hackthorn Hall was designed and built by James Lewis between 1792 and 1795. A stream runs from west to east through the grounds of Hackthorn Hall and was enlarged into a winding lake below the manor house. The comparison makes a change to the landscape tangible: below the house, the stream became a wider, winding body of water. Thus, alongside the building’s history, the course and transformation of the water are part of the character of the Hall grounds.
Gardens with ornamental and productive areas
The gardens around Hackthorn Hall and the church extend over about 15 acres. They include formal gardens and woodland gardens, as well as an ornamental and productive garden within a walled enclosure. The combination of these areas showcases different types of gardens and brings together design and cultivation. The walled garden at Hackthorn Hall is 400 years old; fruit, vegetables and flowers grow there. A greenhouse in this garden houses a vine planted in 1868. The fruit, vegetables and flowers give the productive garden a practical purpose, while the individual vine adds a specific planting year to the garden’s history.
Medieval traces in Hackthorn Park
The medieval settlement and medieval field system at Hackthorn survive as extensive earthworks. The remains of the settlement lie in Hackthorn Park. The settlement remains and field system point to different aspects of the medieval place: the settlement area and the agricultural division of the fields. Together with the Hall, they form a timeline spanning the Middle Ages to the building phase between 1792 and 1795. The medieval structures thus stand alongside a country house built much later, without the two historical themes being conflated.
Church of St Michael: tower and organ
The Church of St Michael was rebuilt in 1849 by Mr Mainwaring. Its four-storey ashlar tower has eight gargoyles shaped like griffins and lions. Alongside the year of the rebuild, the material, number of storeys and animal motifs make the tower a distinctive architectural feature. St Michael & All Angels also has a restored historic organ. The dates have different significance when compared: 1792 to 1795 marks the design and construction of the present Hall, while 1849 marks the rebuilding of the church. This distinguishes the construction of a country house from a later rebuilding, rather than treating both dates as equivalent construction starts.
Walk 1 notice
As of 1 September 2026, the permissive footpaths on Walk 1 between points 3 and 4, and between points 7 and 8, were closed. Check the path status again before setting out.
Discover more destinations: Leadenham, Epworth, Burton Coggles, Doncaster, Winteringham, Laceby, Alford, South Witham
For the wider travel overview: Lincolnshire.
