Knighton, Leicester

The population at the 2011 census was 16,805.[4] but the Knighton census ward differs significantly from the Knighton neighbourhood area. A portion of Stoneygate is included. The ancient parish had a population of 383 in 1831,[5] rising to 6,075 by 1891, after the first wave of Leicester's Victorian expansion into the northern part of the parish.[6] Knighton itself saw much building in the 1930s and 1940s with red-brick semi-detached houses. The village as a suburb expanded further in the mid-20th century with the building of the housing estates of West Knighton and South Knighton. These two estates have a mix of housing of the post-war era.

Knighton was named in the Domesday Book of 1086[7] (where it is spelled Cnihetone, and gives a picture of a fairly large village of 24 households and substantial farmlands, all under the manorial lordship of the Bishop of Lincoln, who at that time was a Norman cleric named Remigius de Fécamp. It functioned as a civil parish between Leicester and Wigston Magna, with an identity separate from the town of Leicester until the end of the 19th century.[5] Ecclesiastically, it was a chapelry of St Margaret's Church, Leicester and appears to have been so since before the Norman conquest. Both St Margaret's, Leicester and St Mary Magdelene, Knighton, were held by the Bishop of Lincoln, and from the 13th century St Margaret's was a prebendary church of Lincoln Cathedral, and thus had considerable autonomy compared to Leicester's other ecclesiastical parishes, which were all held by Leicester Abbey.[8] The tithes and glebe lands at Knighton were thus in the hands of the vicar of St Margaret's. Although Knighton Church dates back to at least the 13th century, it was served by a curate, and did not have its own vicar until it was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1878.[5]

The medieval parish had four substantial open fields, and the village economy was centred on agricultural activity. Until the Enclosure award of 1756 these four open fields, named Stockwell, Safforn, Goldhill, and the Breach Field,[5] were subdivided into narrow strips that were allocated annually amongst the families in the village. These fields were enclosed in 1756 and divided up permanently between the 14 families that had rights to the land, giving a snapshot of the spread of wealth in the village. 1,520 acres (620 ha) were allocated, in proportion to the size of each family's existing rights. The Craddock family, who by this time were the Lords of the Manor, received almost 700 acres. Of the other families, Edward Inge received 260 acres, the Foster and Johnson families each received well over 100 acres, leaving the other 10 families to share 300 acres between them.[5]

Knighton Park forms the southern part of the neighbourhood, south of the A563 Palmerston Way. The 78 acres (32 ha) park was bought from the Craddock-Hartopp trustees by Leicester city council in the late 1930s but wartime prevented its conversion to a public park until 1953.[13] The various compartments and zones within the Park still reflect many of the divisions of the land put in place in 1756 for agricultural improvements when the Knighton open fields were enclosed and subdivided for the first time.[13]

Knighton Spinney is a small area of woodland on the north-east side of the Park, 2.9 hectares (7.2 acres) in extent, that was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 2003. It was planted as a mix of oak and ash trees by Squire Craddock-Hartopp in 1840, as he was concerned about the lack of oaks for shipbuilding. With the shift to iron ships, they were never needed for this purpose, but the spinney was used as a covert for foxhunting. By 1932 the Craddocks could see its wildlife value and covenanted it as a wildlife reserve for all time. It now has a diverse woodland structure, and provides a valuable habitat for spring woodland flowers, birds, mammals and insects.[13]

The park was first awarded the Green Flag Award in 2005. It has a range of amenities, including two play areas, tennis courts, pitch & put (seasonal opening), sensory garden, heath garden. The Wash Brook runs through the park.[14]

St Thomas More, Knighton Road

The parish of St Thomas More was formed in 1947 and the church was designed in 1948 by the architects Reynolds & Scott, who built a number of parishes in the Diocese of Nottingham.[15] The church was designed in a stripped basilican style. The broad west tower is a recognisable local landmark due to its distinctive nature.[15] Whilst there were a number of Catholic churches within Leicester at the time of the church's construction, St Thomas More's was the first to be built to serve the community of Knighton. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Edward Ellis, Bishop of Nottingham, in 1950.[15] The church was officially opened for use in 1952.[16] The design incorporated a domed baldacchino over the altar and altar rails, all of which have been removed.[15] At the time of the re-ordering which removed the baldacchino, a parish hall was built adjacent to the church. Stained glass windows along the nave of the church include references to key elements of the Roman Catholic faith, with symbolic representations of Christ's ministry and a number of the sacraments.

In the late 1990s to modernise and to make the church suitable to the reforms implemented during the Second Vatican Council the baldacchino, traditional altar, altar rail and marble lectern were replaced with mosaics implanted into the floor of the sanctuary, a mosaic cross was installed in the confessional and new decorational pieces were placed above the new, unusual octagonal altar.[17][18]

• Henry Knighton: wrote a history of England from the Norman conquest until 1396, the year he died.[19]
• Sir William Lindsay Everard: MP, brewer and pioneer aviator.
• Clare Hollingworth: journalist and first person to alert the world that World War II had started

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Knighton, Leicester.

• "Knighton Village information". Archived from the original on 4 March 2014.
• "Knighton Park Table Tennis Club".