Knightley is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

and former manor in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. It is situated near the villages of Gnosall and

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 ...

, now on the B5405 road. 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 Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

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 and ...

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 The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

References

Borough of Stafford Hamlets in Staffordshire {{Staffordshire-geo-stub