Knockin is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in north-west

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, England. It is located on the B4396 road, around south-east of the town of

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

, and from the county town of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

History

The former name of Knockin was Cnukyn. The village comprises mainly historic detached buildings in a rural setting. The

Earl of Bradford Earl of Bradford, of Bradford in the County of Salop, is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in 1694 for Francis Newport, 2nd Baron Newport. How ...

owned much of Knockin until it was sold off in lots to meet other financial demands. The Earl still owns the cricket pitch and other small pockets of land in the area. The local

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

is called the Bradford Arms and displays the Earl's Bridgeman family coat of arms. The pub also has a clock with three faces, hung outside above the main entrance. The motto displayed on the sign is that of the Bridgeman family "Nec temere nec timide" (Neither rashly nor timidly). The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado later moved over

, causing further damage. In 1990 a large part of the village was designated a historical conservation area by

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council, known between 1980 and 2009 as Shropshire County Council and prior to 1980 as Salop County Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Shropshire (district), Shropshire in t ...

, and it is home to a number of listed buildings.

Knockin Castle

All that remains of

Knockin Castle Knockin Castle is situated in the village of Knockin on Shropshire between Oswestry and Shrewsbury (), England. This was a fortified residence on level ground founded by Guy le Strange between 1154 and 1160 and it remained the principal holding ...

today is a large tree-covered mound of earth. The castle was of a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...

design and was constructed between 1154–1160 under the authority of Guy le Strange. Ownership remained with the family for much of the Middle Ages, but by 1540 it was described as "ruinous". Like most Shropshire castles which are now only marked by grassy sites, its stones live on in a number of buildings in the area.

Church

The parish church of St Mary was founded by Ralph Le Strange between 1182 and 1195 as a chapel for the castle. It has a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and north

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

but the building was heavily restored in 1846. Its graveyard was consecrated in 1817; before then at least some burials took place at

Kinnerley Kinnerley (historic Welsh name: ''Generdinlle'') is a small village in Shropshire, England. It lies between the neighbouring villages of Dovaston and Pentre and the nearest town is Oswestry. To the north is the village of Knockin. History A ...

. It contains

CWGC The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

-registered war graves of two officers and two soldiers of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Inside the church are several war-related memorials: a Roll of Honour for World War I and separate Rolls of Duty for both World Wars on wooden boards, a brass cross on marble plaque in the chancel to Captain Orlando F.C. Bridgeman of the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several ...

who died while returning from active service in India in 1858, and stained glass window at the west end to Captain Edward William Walker of the

Royal Welsh Fusiliers The Royal Welch Fusiliers () was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, and part of the Prince of Wales's Division, that was founded in 1689, shortly after the Glorious Revolution. In 1702, it was designated a fusilier regiment and becam ...

who was killed in action in Palestine in 1917.

Radio telescope

One of the

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

s that make up the

Jodrell Bank Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...

MERLIN The Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network (MERLIN) is an interferometer array of radio telescopes spread across England. The array is run from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire by the University of Manchester on behalf of UK Re ...

(Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network) radio telescope array is in Knockin. The array links several observing stations that together form a powerful telescope.

Sport

Knockin is the home o
Knockin and Kinnerley Cricket Club
Established as a club in 1862 the club field four league teams, two mid-week teams, junior teams from under 9's to under 15's in addition to ladies and girls-only teams. In June 2018 the club was awarded the

Queens Award for Voluntary Service The King's Award for Voluntary Service, previously known as The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies. Until 2022, awardees were announce ...

(QAVS), the MBE for volunteer groups. This was a landmark achievement for the club and recognised the tremendous work of their supporters. The Knockin & Kinnerley Knights Junior Section continues to thrive, and training takes place on Monday evenings at the clubs' Nursery Ground.

Transport

Knockin is served by the number 576 bus between Oswestry and Shrewsbury.

Notable residents

Vice-Admiral

Charles Orlando Bridgeman Vice-Admiral Charles Orlando Bridgeman (5 February 1791 – 13 April 1860) was a Royal Navy officer who saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence. Life Bridgeman was a younger son of Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Ea ...

(1791-1860) lived at Knockin Hall at time of his death.Search for Bridgeman 1860
at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 28 August 2015

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Shropshire