Fawsley is a
hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
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 below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...
in
West Northamptonshire
West Northamptonshire is a unitary authority area covering part of the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, created in 2021. By far the largest settlement in West Northamptonshire is the county town of Northampton. Its other signific ...
, England.
[- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000) ] The population at the 2001 census was 32. At the 2011 census the population remained less than 100 and is included in the civil parish of
Charwelton
Charwelton is a village and civil parish about south of Daventry in Northamptonshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population (including Fawsley) as 220.
The villages name means 'River Cherwell farm/settlement'.
The present ...
.
The hamlets name possibly means '
fallow deer
''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer.
Name
The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...
wood/clearing' or 'fallow-coloured wood/clearing'. It was created out of the combination of the 'Egelweardesle' and 'Grauesende'
Hundreds in the 12th century. According to Morton, the hundred-court was held under a
beech-tree called Mangrave (perhaps a combination of '(ge)maene' and 'graf').
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 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manus ...
(1086) confirms the population of Fawsley
Falelau as around 50, but the
Knightley family of Fawsley Hall developed the sheep farming at the expense of their peasant tenants, who were all evicted by the turn of the 15th century. The hall and the church are all that remain of Fawsley.
Fawsley Hall
Fawsley Hall and landscape park was created by the Knightley family. Richard Knightley, a well-to-do Staffordshire lawyer, bought the manor of Fawsley in 1416. His grandson Richard, knighted by
Henry VII, built the first wing of the present house.
![Fawsley Hall detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Fawsley_Hall_detail.jpg)
Sir Richard's son, Sir
Edmund Knightley
Edmund is a masculine given name or surname in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector".
Persons named Edmund include:
People Kings and ...
, was a commissioner concerned with the confiscation of monastic lands after the
Dissolution of the Monasteries.
King Henry VIII granted the manors of
Badby
Badby is a village and a rural parish of about in West Northamptonshire, England.- OS Explorer Map 207: Newport Pagnell & Northampton South (1:25 000)
Location
Badby is about 2 miles (3 km) south of Daventry, on the A361 Daventry to Ban ...
and
Newnham in 1542 to Sir Edmund Knightley and his wife Ursula and their heirs in exchange for Alderton and Stoke. Sir Edmund ordered the building of the
Elizabethan hall, which was visited by
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...
in 1575, after it had passed to Edmund's nephew
Richard_Knightley.html" ;"title="Richard Knightley">Richard Knightley
">Richard Knightley">Richard Knightley
a prominent Puritan. He ran a secret printing press at the house on which were printed Puritan pamphlets and for which he was briefly imprisoned.
The dower house in Fawsley Park, last inhabited in 1704 and now in ruins, was built for Lady Ursula after Sir Edmund died. It was placed on the Heritage at Risk register by English Heritage in 2014. Major stabilisation of the ruins was undertaken during 2016, including the construction of a steel support for the north eastern gable. The Fawsley Estate has also been working with English Heritage and Natural England to prepare a comprehensive scheme of historic landscape restoration.
The estate descended in the wider Knightley family, many of them Members of Parliament, to Lucy Knightley, who inherited in 1754 and built the Georgian wing of Fawsley Hall. Lucy Knightley was High Sheriff of Northamptonshire for 1770–71.
In 1798 Sir John Knightley was created a Baronet. His nephew, Sir Charles Knightley, 2nd Baronet, carried out the Gothic alterations to the Georgian Wing, and his son
Sir Rainald, the 3rd Baronet, commissioned architect
Anthony Salvin
Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country h ...
to re-model the North Wing. Sir Rainald married
Louisa Knightley
Louisa Mary Knightley, Lady Knightley (25 April 1842 – 2 October 1913) was a British Anglican and women's rights activist.
Life
Born on Lower Grosvenor Street in London as Louisa Bowater, she was the daughter of General Edward Bowater an ...
and served as MP for
South Northamptonshire
South Northamptonshire was, from 1974 to 2021, a district in Northamptonshire, England. Its council was based in the town of Towcester, first established as a settlement in Roman Britain. The population of the Local Authority District Council in ...
for 40 years. He was created Baron Knightley in 1892, but died childless in 1895. During this time
Joseph Merrick
Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), often erroneously called John Merrick, was an English man known for having severe deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "the Elephant Man" and then wen ...
(the 'Elephant Man') was invited by the family to holiday at the estate and lived in the gamekeeper's cottage.
[Howell, Michael; Ford, Peter (1992) 980 The True History of the Elephant Man (3rd ed.), London: Penguin Books, ] Sir Rainald's widow kept possession of the hall until 1913, after which financial restraints necessitated the auction of the house's contents after her death. She was the last Knightley to live at the Hall, completing 500 years of Knightley occupation.
When her eventual heirs Sir Charles Valentine Knightley, 5th Baronet died in 1932 and his brother, Sir Henry Francis Knightley, 6th and last Baronet, died in 1938, the estate passed to the Gage family of
Firle Place
Firle Place is a Manor house in Firle, Sussex, United Kingdom. The Gage family have owned the land at Firle since acquiring it from the Levett family in the 15th century. The manor house was first built in the late 15th century by Sir John Gage ...
, Sussex, by virtue of an earlier marriage of Sir Rainald's sister, Sophia, to Viscount Gage. The Gage family still own the former Knightley lands.
Fawsley Hall is now a country house hotel and spa, owned by Hand Picked Hotels. It is one of two buildings in Fawsley listed as Grade I, the other being
St Mary's Church. There are three bodies of water near the hotel named ''Big Waters'', ''The Canal'' and ''Horse Pond'', the first of which was created using a small
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
.
[Ordnance Survey (2006) ''Edge Hill & Fenny Compton'', sheet 206, 1:25 000. Southampton: Ordnance Survey (Explorer Series).]
St Mary's church
Standing isolated on a grassy knoll and surrounded by a
ha-ha
A ha-ha (french: hâ-hâ or ), also known as a sunk fence, blind fence, ditch and fence, deer wall, or foss, is a recessed landscape design element that creates a vertical barrier (particularly on one side) while preserving an uninterrupted view ...
,
St. Mary's Church contains the Knightley family tombs including effigies of the 16th-century Sir Richard Knightley and his wife Jane. Dating to the early 13th century, the church has many fine features such as carved poppy heads and stained glass thought to be from
Sulgrave
Sulgrave is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north of Brackley. The village is just south of a stream that rises in the parish and flows east to join the River Tove, a tributary of the Great Ouse.
The villag ...
Manor. A considerable amount of the copper roof covering was stolen in 2015,
and temporary sheeting had to be applied whilst considerable funds are amassed to replace the metal.
See also
*
Knightley Baronets
References
External links
{{Daventry District
Hamlets in Northamptonshire
West Northamptonshire District
Civil parishes in Northamptonshire