Privacy should not require a magnifying glass, a law degree or an afternoon set aside to decipher it.
This page explains what information Hawthorn & Key may receive when you visit hawthornandkey.co.uk, why we may use it, who may process it on our behalf and what choices you have.
We collect as little personal information as reasonably possible. We do not sell personal data, and reading The Hawthorn Archive does not require you to create an account or tell us who you are.
Last updated: 1 October 2026
Who is responsible for the website?
Hawthorn & Key is operated by:
MB Bao group
Company number: 306163797
Registered office: Bajorų Sodų 7-oji g. 4, LT-08426, Vilnius, Lithuania
For privacy and data protection enquiries, write to info@hawthornandkey.co.uk.
What information do we receive?
There are several ways information may reach us. Some is information you deliberately provide. Some is ordinary technical information generated when a website is visited.
When you contact us
If you email Hawthorn & Key, we will receive your email address and whatever information you choose to include in your message.
We use it to read and respond to your enquiry, deal with corrections or requests, and keep a reasonable record of correspondence where necessary.
When you subscribe
If you choose to receive occasional notes or updates from Hawthorn & Key, we may collect your email address and the information necessary to manage that subscription.
Subscription is voluntary. You can unsubscribe using the link provided in our emails or by contacting us directly.
We do not sell, rent or trade our subscriber list.
When you read the website
Our website and the services that help us operate it may process limited technical information about a visit. Depending on the service and your privacy choices, this may include:
- your IP address;
- browser and device information;
- pages visited;
- the date and approximate time of a visit;
- the page or website that referred you to Hawthorn & Key;
- approximate geographic information derived from an IP address;
- cookie and consent preferences;
- information used to measure website performance and readership.
This does not mean that we sit at a desk watching individual readers move from one article to another. Such information is principally used by automated systems to operate, secure and understand the website.
Analytics and Site Kit by Google
Hawthorn & Key uses Google services and Site Kit by Google to help us understand how the website performs and how readers find and use it.
These services may include Google Analytics and related measurement technologies.
Analytics can tell us useful things in aggregate: whether readers are finding an article, which parts of the journal are being read, whether a page works properly on different devices and where the website can be improved.
Where applicable law requires consent before particular analytics technologies are used, those technologies are subject to the choices you make through our consent controls.
Advertising
Hawthorn & Key is an independent publication. Advertising is one of the ways the journal may support the cost of researching, maintaining and publishing its work.
The website may display advertising supplied through Google AdSense.
Google and participating advertising technology providers may use cookies, local storage, device information and similar technologies for purposes such as delivering advertisements, measuring their performance, preventing fraud and, where you have given the required consent, personalising advertising.
The advertising technologies available during your visit may therefore depend on where you are located and the privacy choices you make.
Advertising does not determine the editorial conclusions of The Hawthorn Archive.
Your consent choices
Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland may be shown a privacy message provided through Google’s consent management platform.
Where displayed, it allows you to consent, decline consent or manage the available options in more detail.
Your choice may be stored so that the website and participating services do not have to ask the same question on every page you visit.
Where the website provides a privacy or consent control, you can use it to review or change your choices.
Cookies
Some of the technologies described above use cookies or similar browser storage.
They may be used to keep the website functioning, remember consent choices, measure readership, prevent abuse and support advertising.
Not every visitor will receive the same cookies. Which technologies are used can depend on your location, browser, consent choices and the services active on the website at the time of your visit.
You can read more on our Cookie Policy page.
Why are we allowed to process personal information?
The legal basis depends on why the information is being used.
Depending on the circumstances, we may process information because:
- you have given your consent;
- you have asked us to provide something or respond to you;
- we have a legitimate interest in operating, securing and improving the website;
- we need to prevent abuse, fraud or technical problems;
- we are required to keep or disclose information by law.
Where processing depends on your consent, you may withdraw that consent.
Who else may process information?
A small independent publication still relies on other companies to keep a website running.
Depending on the services active at the time, information may be processed by providers involved in areas such as:
- website hosting and technical infrastructure;
- website security;
- analytics and performance measurement;
- email subscription delivery;
- consent management;
- advertising.
These providers process information under their own legal obligations and applicable privacy terms.
We do not sell your personal information to data brokers or maintain a business based on selling reader profiles.
How long do we keep information?
We do not keep personal information simply because storage space is cheap.
Information is retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, to maintain appropriate business records, to resolve disputes, to protect the website or to meet legal and regulatory obligations.
Subscription information may be retained while you remain subscribed and for a reasonable period afterwards where necessary to maintain suppression or compliance records.
International processing
The internet is not particularly respectful of national borders. Some technology providers used by Hawthorn & Key may process information in countries other than the country from which you visit the website.
Where data protection law requires safeguards for such transfers, the relevant provider and controller are expected to use the mechanisms required by applicable law.
Your rights
Depending on the law that applies to you, you may have rights concerning your personal information.
These can include the right to:
- ask what personal information we hold about you;
- request correction of inaccurate information;
- request deletion in appropriate circumstances;
- request restriction of certain processing;
- object to certain processing;
- receive certain information in a portable form;
- withdraw consent where processing relies on consent.
To make a privacy request, email info@hawthornandkey.co.uk.
We may need enough information to establish that a request concerns your own data before acting on it.
You may also have the right to complain to the data protection authority responsible for your jurisdiction.
Children
The Hawthorn Archive can certainly be read by younger readers interested in legends, customs and curious old stories, but the website is a general-audience publication and is not designed to collect personal information from children.
If you believe that personal information belonging to a child has been provided to us inappropriately, please contact us.
Links beyond Hawthorn & Key
Our articles sometimes point towards museums, archives, books, historical organisations, research projects and other useful places elsewhere on the web.
Once you follow an external link, the destination website has its own privacy practices. Hawthorn & Key cannot control those practices simply because we have linked to the page.
If this policy changes
A privacy policy should describe the website that actually exists, not the website that existed two years ago.
We may therefore revise this page when Hawthorn & Key changes its services, technology or legal arrangements. The date near the top of the page will show when the policy was last materially updated.
Questions about privacy?
If something on this page is unclear, or if you would like to exercise a privacy right, please write to info@hawthornandkey.co.uk.