HAWKSTONE, a township in Hodnet parish, Salop; 4 miles E of Wem. Pop., 60. Hawkstone Park is the seat of Viscount Hill; contains some interesting pictures and portraits; and is celebrated for an extraordinary combination of natural and artificial beauties in its grounds. Some of these are the Grotto and Retreat caverns; a lake 2 miles long; Lord Mayor Hill's column, 133 feet high, commanding a prospect over twelve counties; a summer house, with fine views; a Swiss bridge; an Otaheite cabin; a tent in which the treaty of El Arish was signed, and brought over by Lord Hill; the Roman camp of Bury Walls, occupying 20 acres, in which coins and armour have been found; and the site of Red Castle, which was demolished in the civil war.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))