Knockin ( cy, Cnwcin) is a village 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 north-west

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 ...

, England. It is located on the

B4396 road B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Gr ...

, around south-east of the town of

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough ...

, and from the county town of

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

History

The former name of Knockin was Cnukyn. The village comprises mainly historic detached buildings in a rural setting. The

Earl of Bradford Earl of Bradford is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was first created in 1694 for Francis Newport, 2nd Baron Newport. However, all the Newport titles became ex ...

owned much of Knockin until it was sold off in lots to meet other financial demands. The Earl still owns the cricket pitch and other small pockets of land in the area. The local

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

is called the Bradford Arms and displays the Earl's Bridgeman family coat of arms. The pub also has a clock with three faces, hung outside above the main entrance. The motto displayed on the sign is that of the Bridgeman family "Nec temere nec timide" (Neither rashly nor timidly). The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. The tornado later moved over

, causing further damage. In 1990 a large part of the village was designated a historical conservation area by

Shropshire Council Shropshire Council is the local authority of Shropshire, in England, comprising the ceremonial county of Shropshire except Telford and Wrekin. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combi ...

, and it is home to a number of listed buildings.

Knockin Castle

All that remains of

Knockin Castle Knockin Castle is situated in the village of Knockin on Shropshire between Oswestry and Shrewsbury (). This was a motte and bailey castle founded by Guy le Strange between 1154 and 1160 and it remained the principal holding of the le Strange fam ...

today is a large tree-covered mound of earth. The castle was of a

motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy t ...

design and was constructed between 1154–1160 under the authority of Guy le Strange. Ownership remained with the family for much of the Middle Ages, but by 1540 it was described as "ruinous". Like most Shropshire castles which are now only marked by grassy sites, its stones live on in a number of buildings in the area.

Church

The parish church of St Mary was founded by Ralph Le Strange between 1182 and 1195 as a chapel for the castle. It has a Norman

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. ...

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-typ ...

and north

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, pa ...

but the building was heavily restored in 1846. Its graveyard was consecrated in 1817; before then at least some burials took place at

Kinnerley Kinnerley ( Welsh: ''Chen-ar-dinlle'') is a small village in Shropshire, England. It lies between the neighbouring villages of Dovaston and Pentre and the nearest town is Oswestry. To the north is the village of Knockin. History A mile to th ...

. It contains

CWGC The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mi ...

-registered war graves of two officers and two soldiers of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. Inside the church are several war-related memorials: a Roll of Honour for World War I and separate Rolls of Duty for both World Wars on wooden boards, a brass cross on marble plaque in the chancel to Captain Orlando F.C. Bridgeman of the

2nd Dragoon Guards The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse. Renamed several ti ...

who died while returning from active service in India in 1858, and stained glass window at the west end to Captain Edward William Walker of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers who was killed in action in Palestine in 1917.

Radio telescope

One of the

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...

s that make up the

Jodrell Bank Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astro ...

MERLIN Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

(Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network) radio telescope array is in Knockin. The array links several observing stations that together form a powerful telescope.

Sport

Knockin is the home o
Knockin and Kinnerley Cricket Club
Established as a club in 1862 the club field four league teams, two mid-week teams, junior teams from under 9's to under 15's in addition to ladies and girls-only teams. In June 2018 the club was awarded the

Queens Award for Voluntary Service The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, also known as The Queen's Golden Jubilee Award for Voluntary Service by Groups in the Community and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Volunteering Award is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector ...

(QAVS), the MBE for volunteer groups. This was a landmark achievement for the club and recognised the tremendous work of their supporters. The Knockin & Kinnerley Knights Junior Section continues to thrive, and training takes place on Monday evenings at the clubs' Nursery Ground.

Transport

Knockin is served by the number 576 bus between Oswestry and Shrewsbury.

Notable residents

Vice-Admiral

Charles Orlando Bridgeman Vice-Admiral the Hon. Charles Orlando Bridgeman (5 February 1791 – 13 April 1860) was a Royal Navy officer who saw active service in the Napoleonic Wars and the Greek War of Independence. Life Bridgeman was a younger son of Orlando Bridgema ...

(1791-1860) lived at Knockin Hall at time of his death.Search for Bridgeman 1860
at probatesearch.service.gov.uk, accessed 28 August 2015

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Shropshire