Knapwell is a hamlet in Cambridgeshire situated about west of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. It is within the

diocese of Ely The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely. There is one suffragan bishop, suffragan (subordinate) bishop, the Bisho ...

. Its population was estimated at 110 in 2001. At the 2011 census the population had fallen to fewer than 100. Nearby villages include Boxworth, Conington,

Elsworth Elsworth is a village and civil parish in South Cambridgeshire, England, 9 miles northwest of Cambridge and 7 miles southeast of Huntingdon. At the 2011 census, the population was 726. It was one of only two sites in Cambridgeshire to be cov ...

and the expanding new settlement of

Cambourne Cambourne is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, in the district of South Cambridgeshire. It is a new town, new settlement and lies on the A428 road between Cambridge, to the east, and St Neots and ...

History

The place-name 'Knapwell' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon will of 1043–5, where it appears as ''Cnapwelle''. It was referred to as ''Cnapenwelle'' in 1060, and was listed as ''Chenepewelle'' in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

of 1086, when it was held by the Abbot of

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Companies *Ramsey (retailer), Turkish clothing retailer People * Ramsey (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Ramsey (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Baron de Ramsey, a title i ...

. The name means 'Cnapa's well or stream'. 'Cnapa' may be the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''cnapa'' meaning boy or servant, so the name might mean 'boy's well'. It seems likely that Knapwell is named after the

chalybeate Chalybeate () waters, also known as Iron oxide, ferruginous waters, are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron. Name The word ''chalybeate'' is derived from the Latin word for steel, , which follows from the Ancient Greek, Greek word ...

Red Well in the wood just to the east of the village. The well was the only source of water for both the village and neighbouring Boxworth. Its waters were known for their medicinal properties. A mound to the north-east of the church is believed to be the motte of a Norman

motte-and-bailey castle 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 ...

. It would have been a small fortification, probably with a timber superstructure, and perhaps dating from

The Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Duchy of Normandy, Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adel ...

under King Stephen. The village's manor house was established in Norman times, between the church and the motte, and traces of a building and moat remain in the wood ( Overhall Grove) to the east of the church.

Church

The village has had a church, dating back to at least 1180. A church, dedicated to All Saints, was probably built in the early 14th century. The medieval church had a long, low chancel and a three-bay aisled nave, all under a single roof, and a west tower. In 1864 the medieval church was demolished, except for the tower, and rebuilt in a plain Gothic style. The original 14th-century tower is built of field stones dressed with limestone and is unbuttressed.

The Knapwell elm trees

Knapwell was once celebrated for its many ancient pollarded Field Elms, which marked the old boundaries, closes and lanes of the larger medieval village and which were locally called "the Dodds".Mabey, R. ''The Flowering of Britain'', Hutchinson, 1980, p.97

Rackham, Oliver Oliver Rackham (17 October 1939 – 12 February 2015) was an academic at the University of Cambridge who studied the ecology, management and development of the British countryside, especially trees, woodlands and wood pasture. His books inclu ...

''Trees and Woodland in the British Landscape'', Dent, 1976, p.1171 The trees grew both in the fields immediately bordering the main street and amongst the houses of the modern village. The name may have derived from "dodderel", a dialect word for a pollard. The trees succumbed to Dutch Elm Disease in the 1980s. Overhall Grove (not to be confused with Knapwell Wood) has a notably large number of surviving elm trees.

Village life

The village has no shops or pubs, though was home to the Three Horseshoes pub until its closure in 1880. The local primary school is Elsworth CE(A) Primary School in

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Cambridgeshire Civil parishes in Cambridgeshire South Cambridgeshire District