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, 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 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 Oswestry, 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 today is a large tree-covered mound of earth. The castle was of a motte and bailey 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

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. It contains CWGC-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 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 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 (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 (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 (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