Knighton 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 ...

part of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

Adbaston Adbaston is a village and a civil parish in the English county of Staffordshire.OS Explorer Map 243: Market Drayton, Loggerheads and Eccleshall: (1:25 000) :

in the county of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England. Knighton is situated close to the Staffordshire/

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

border in undulating agricultural land featuring a not inconsiderable number of endemic hardwood trees. Another feature is the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

, which passes through the hamlet at the point of a cutting and substantial embankment. Adjacent to the canal is the

Knighton Reservoir Knighton may mean: Places in England * Knighton, Devon, a List of United Kingdom locations: Kip-Kz#Kn, location * Knighton, Isle of Wight * Knighton, Leicester, Leicestershire, a suburb * Knighton, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire * Knighton, Ox ...

, the function of which is to replenish its waters. Although a fundamentally agricultural community there is a food processing and packaging plant belonging to the food manufacturer Knighton Foods Ltd which processes and packs a wide range of products including Hot Beverages, Instant Desserts, Custards and Whips, Bakery Ingredients, Instant Milks, Coffee Creamers and Fat Powders. The factory maintains a social club, the facilities of which are available to the wider community for social events. The club's football pitch is home ground to the amateur Sunday football team Woodseaves FC, from the nearby village of

Woodseaves Woodseaves is a village in Staffordshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of High Offley and is situated on the A519 ( Newport- Newcastle-under-Lyme) road and lies at the south-west end of the B5405 road, which leads to Great Bridgeford ...

, who play in the Stafford and District Sunday League. The hamlet of Knighton has a royal decree attached to it, the effect of which is that all denizens shall be free of tax and tythe for ever more. Unfortunately over time this right has been slowly eroded to a point where now only denizens living within Knighton and engaged in agriculture can avail themselves of the rights bestowed by the decree. William Adams, who founded a grammar school at Newport, Shropshire in 1656, endowed this school with a large agricultural estate at Knighton,www.haberdashersarms.com
/ref> providing income for future generations; as a result of this Knighton was exempt from all land taxes until 1990. The Knighton estate was eventually sold off in several portions over the course of the twentieth century, and the proceeds of the final sale were used by the

Haberdashers' Company The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, is an ancient merchant guild of London, England associated with the silk and velvet trades. History and functions The Haberdashers' Company follows the M ...

to purchase

Longford Hall Longford Hall is a large country house in Longford, a village in Shropshire, England near the town of Newport. Building history Longford Hall was built in 1275 by Adam de Brompton and owned by the Earl of Shrewsbury. In April 1644 it was captur ...

as a boarding house for the school. The immediate area has a wealth of fauna and flora,

buzzard Buzzard is the common name of several species of birds of prey. ''Buteo'' species * Archer's buzzard (''Buteo archeri'') * Augur buzzard (''Buteo augur'') * Broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') * Common buzzard (''Buteo buteo'') * Eastern ...

s and

raven A raven is any of several larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned t ...

s often to be seen in the skies,

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s have been reported in the areas water courses, deer occasionally to be seen in the surrounding fields and at least one "big cat" has not only been spotted within the parish but has effected a "kill", the victim being a young lamb.

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Hamlets in Staffordshire {{Staffordshire-geo-stub

See also

References

External links