Knipton is a village and former
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 ...
, now in the parish of
Belvoir, in the
Melton district, in the
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
of
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, England. It lies about from the town of
Grantham
Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...
, just off the A607, and from
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...
. It borders the
Duke of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...
's estate at
Belvoir Castle
Belvoir Castle ( ) is a faux historic castle and stately home in Leicestershire, England, situated west of the town of Grantham and northeast of Melton Mowbray. A castle was first built on the site immediately after the Norman Conquest of 10 ...
. Although the village is in
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...
, it has a
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
postcode and a Lincolnshire (Grantham)
STD code. In 1931 the parish had a population of 273. On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished and merged with Belvoir.
Architecture
The parish church of All Saints is a Grade II* listed building. It has a 13th-century tower at the west end and a
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 ...
at the east end, separated by a 14th-century
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 a 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, ...
. A south aisle was added in 1869 by W. Thompson of Grantham. The churchyard includes two listed table tombs.
Knipton's village hall was built as a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
primary school in 1850–1854 in a
Mock Tudor
Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...
style, on orders from the Duke of Rutland, and extended to the rear in 1868. The slate roof carries a tall spire above a louvred bell turret. The building has been
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...
since 1979, but ceased to serve as a school in the late 20th century. The village has a number of houses built for the Belvoir Estate, including a couple of ''
cottages ornés'' from early Victorian times and some late 19th-century houses.
Knipton Reservoir, built in the 1790s to supply water for the
Grantham Canal
The Grantham Canal ran 33 miles (53 km) from Grantham through 18 locks to West Bridgford, where it joined the River Trent. It was built primarily for the transportation of coal to Grantham. It opened in 1797 and its profitability steadil ...
, lies to the west of the village.
Iron ore
Iron ore was quarried in two areas of Knipton. Both quarries have now been smoothed over and the fields are at a lower level than the roads.
Southern quarries
These were an extension of the quarries at
Woolsthorpe and
Harston. Quarrying began east of the road from Knipton to
Croxton Kerrial
Croxton Kerrial (pronounced �kroʊsən ˈkɛrɨl is a village and civil parish in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England, south-west of Grantham, north-east of Melton Mowbray, and west of Leicestershire's border with Lincolnshire. Th ...
in 1924, ceasing in 1943. A quarry on the west side of the road operated in 1941–1946. The quarries used steam and diesel quarrying machines. Ore was removed by a steam-operated narrow-gauge tramway to a tipping dock on the standard-gauge railway at Harston, where it was tipped into standard-gauge trucks for transport. In 1956 quarrying resumed where it had finished in 1946. By that time the narrow-gauge tramway had been replaced by a standard-gauge line worked by steam locomotives, which brought the trucks to the sidings at Harston from where
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
ways locomotives took them away. From 1960 onwards, the ore from some of the quarries was loaded into lorries to be taken to the tramway or the sidings at Harston. The tramway was lifted in early 1964, but the lorry-worked quarries continued for a while. Production at Knipton had ceased by the end of 1964.
Waltham Iron Ore Company quarries
Quarrying began at High Leys, close to the
Belvoir Road in 1949. The quarry closed in 1951, to be replaced by Granby pit, closer to the village on the east side of the road. Granby closed in 1955, when quarrying began on the opposite side of the road at Harts Pit. Quarrying ceased at Harts in 1958. These quarries were served by an extension of the
Waltham Iron Ore Tramway
The Waltham Iron Ore Tramway was a gauge industrial tramway serving the ironstone pits of the Waltham Iron Ore Company, a subsidiary of the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. It was located to the north of the village of Branston in Leicestersh ...
that transported ore to a tipping stage at the terminus of British Railway's
Eaton branch. Diesel quarrying machines were used. The tramway was removed in 1959, and most of the remaining rolling stock was scrapped on site in 1960. One locomotive ''Cambrai'' was preserved by the
Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
The Narrow Gauge Railway Museum (Welsh (language), Welsh: ''Amgueddfa Rheilffyrdd Bach Cul'') is a purpose-built museum dedicated to narrow-gauge railways situated at the station of the Talyllyn Railway in Tywyn, Gwynedd, Wales.
The museum has ...
and is now on loan to the
Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum
The Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum is a small railway museum and metre gauge railway near Irchester, near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England.
History
The area around Wellingborough was rich in iron ore. A quarry opened in I ...
.
''The Red House Inn''
The village
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 now named the ''Manners Arms'',
after the family of the
Duke of Rutland
Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...
. Earlier there had been a ''Marquis of Granby'' in the village street. The ''Manners Arms'' occupies a late 18th-century brick building known as the Red House, with three bays and two-and-a-half storeys. It retains its slate roof and 19th-century plate-glass
sash window
A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass.
History
...
s and shutters, and internally features an original closed-string staircase with a ramped handrail and turned balusters.
Originally part of one of the few freehold pieces of land dating back to Anglo-Saxon times, and so not part of the Belvoir estate, the land was used for various purposes, including a maltings and squatters' cottages. The current building was built in 1774–1790 as a private house for the Rev. Robert Jones, the 5th Duke's chaplain. On Jones's death, the house passed to his son and upon his death to the son's wife. Her son, the estates clerk, mortgaged the building in 1802 for £350. Unable to service the debt, he sold the building and mortgage to the 5th Duke for £750. The house was modified in the late 1920s as the intended dower house for Violet, the 8th Duchess, but she decided to live at Eastwell Hall. The next plan was to subdivide the house into five flats, but this failed to materialise. When converted into a public house in the late 20th century, it was called the ''Red House Inn'', but renamed the ''Manners Arms'' in 2005 at the behest of the 11th Duke of Rutland.
Transport
Knipton is served by three weekday buses a day between
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...
and Grantham.
[Bus time]
Retrieved 5 July 2017.
/ref> Grantham
Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...
is the nearest railway station (8.6 miles, 13.8 km). The main A607 road between Melton Mowbray and Grantham runs to the south of the village.
References
External links
*
Knipton Village Hall
Leicestershire villages
Melton Online
Knipton Village
{{authority control
Villages in Leicestershire
Former civil parishes in Leicestershire
Borough of Melton