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Knave-Go-By (also known as ''Knave-go-bye'' or ''Knave Go By'') is a village located on the outskirts of
Camborne Camborne ( kw, Kammbronn) is a town in Cornwall, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 20,845. The northern edge of the parish includes a section of the South West Coast Path, Hell's Mouth, Cornwall, Hell's Mouth and Deadman's Cove ...
in the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...
county of
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlan ...
in the
South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
region of the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It is in the TR14 postcode area. Knave go by is sometimes erroneously depicted as being located in
Dartmoor Dartmoor is an upland area in southern Devon, England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers . The granite which forms the uplands dates from the Carboniferous ...
in the neighboring county of
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, despite no place of that name ever having existed there. The village is featured as the backdrop to the 1951 book ''Knave-go-by: the adventures of Jacky Nameless''. It also occasionally features in books such as ''Collection of Weird: Place Names'' on account of its unusual name.


Politics

The village is within the Camborne and Redruth UK Parliament Constituency. The current MP of this constituency is
George Eustice Charles George Eustice (born 28 September 1971) is a British politician and former public relations executive who held office as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2020 and 2022. A member of the Conservative P ...
of the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
. It is represented at
Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( kw, Konsel Kernow) is the unitary authority for Cornwall in the United Kingdom, not including the Isles of Scilly, which has its own unitary council. The council, and its predecessor Cornwall County Council, has a traditio ...
as part of the
Camborne Treslothan Camborne Treslothan ( Cornish: ) was an electoral division of Cornwall in the United Kingdom which returned one member to sit on Cornwall Council between 2013 and 2021. It was abolished at the 2021 local elections, being succeeded by Four ...
Unitary Authority
Electoral Division An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
. As of 2017, the current Cornwall Councillor for Camborne Treslothan is David Atherfold from the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...


Name

The origin of its name has been subject to speculation. It refers to an incident involving the founder of the
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...
church the Reverend John Wesley. Wesley came to the village several times in August 1743, it is supposed that he took the route to avoid the warden of the neighboring parish. He preached to the local population from a split elm tree in the village centre. After crowds gathered there to watch John Wesley, an incident occurred by which the village was named, however, the exact details of what happened are subject to speculation. Unfortunately this story appears to be just that - a story - the name was recorded as Never-go-by, before Wesley's time, because it was relatively little visited. According to locals one supposed version is that during one of Wesley's missionary visits, a woman leaned from her cottage window and shouted, “Let the knave go by”, a comment for Wesley to move on. This is based on the supposition that the local Anglicans referred to Wesley as a ''Knave'' on account of his faith. Another possible version is that Wesley was heckled by a drunk "knave" during a sermon, and when the crowd tried to detain the troublemaker, Wesley is reputed to have said, “Let the knave go by.” The area has been known as Knave-go-bye ever since, although the spelling has varied. John Wesley's elm tree, named ''Wesley’s Tree'' stood in the village until it died and blew over on Camborne Festival Day, circa mid 1980s. No new tree has been planted at the site to replace it. BBC Radio Cornwall featured an item on the hamlet in 2014, and added a Facebook video of a resident who, in part, explains the historic nature of this location. It was since learned that the tree was not an oak, as spoken of in the video, but an elm, which suffered
Dutch Elm disease Dutch elm disease (DED) is caused by a member of the sac fungi (Ascomycota) affecting elm trees, and is spread by elm bark beetles. Although believed to be originally native to Asia, the disease was accidentally introduced into America, Europe, ...
and fell.


References

{{authority control Villages in Cornwall Methodism 1743 establishments in England