Knightley 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 former
manor in
Staffordshire, England. It is situated near the villages of
Gnosall
Gnosall is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Stafford, Staffordshire, England, with a population of 4,736 across 2,048 households (2011 census). It lies on the A518, approximately halfway between the towns of Newport (in Shropshir ...
and
Woodseaves, now on the B5405 road.
![Christ Church, Knightley - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Christ_Church%2C_Knightley_-_geograph.org.uk_-_142234.jpg)
There is a church, an agricultural contractor, a few farms and houses and an old blacksmiths.
The hamlet is on the site of a former Roman military station, which was called Mediolanum.
de Knightley family
The prominent ''de Knightley'' family originated at the Staffordshire manor of Knightley, acquired by them shortly after the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...
of 1066. 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 ...
of 1086 lists the tenant of ''Chenistelei'' as ''Rainald'', namely "Reginald the Sheriff", who held 88 manors throughout England, said to be the ancestor of this family. Mark Noble (1787) wrote of the de Knightley family:
[Mark Noble, Memoirs of the Protectoral-house of Cromwell, Volume 2, London, 1787, pp.91-8, Knightley, p.9]
/ref>
:''There is no private family in the kingdom has given more knights; none which has been more numerous in its branches; some of them have almost rivalled the eldest in consequence, and that fettled in France surpassed them, having many centuries ago been declared noble; the alliances they have contracted have been equal to themselves, and the many high offices held by them in the state, have been exceeded only by the very large possessions they have constantly had''.
In 1415 Sir Richard Knightley purchased the manor of Fawsley
Fawsley is a hamlet and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, 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 an ...
in Northamptonshire, where the senior line of the family became seated.
Branches of the family became Knightley baronets, of which two titles were created, and in 1892 Rainald Knightley, 1st Baron Knightley
Rainald Knightley, 1st Baron Knightley (22 October 1819 – 19 December 1895), known as Sir Rainald Knightley, 3rd Baronet, from 1864 to 1892, was a British Conservative Party politician.
Origins
Knightley was the son of Sir Charles Knightley ...
(1819-1895) was created Baron Knightley "of Fawsley" in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
References
Borough of Stafford
Hamlets in Staffordshire
{{Staffordshire-geo-stub