Knighton 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 ...

in the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Adbaston Adbaston is a village and a civil parish in the England, 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 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. Knighton is situated north of

Newport, Shropshire Newport is a market town and Civil parishes in Shropshire, civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It lies north-east of Telford, west of Stafford, and is near the Shropshire-Staffordshire border. The 2001 Ce ...

, close to the Staffordshire/

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

border in undulating agricultural land featuring many endemic hardwood trees. Another feature is the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, sometimes nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. It is the modern name for a part of the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company network. In the leisure age, two of the branches of that netwo ...

, which passes through the hamlet at the point of a cutting and substantial embankment. Adjacent to the canal is the Knighton Reservoir, 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, 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 guild, merchant guild of City of London, London associated with the silk and velvet trades. History and functions The Haberdashers' Company ...

to purchase Longford Hall 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'') * Easte ...

s and

raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

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. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

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

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