KNIGHTON
Knighton is now part of the city of Leicester and is
largely a built-up area two miles south-east of the
town centre. It was formerly a chapelry of the ancient
parish of St. Margaret, but, unlike the rest of the
parish, Knighton lay outside the borough and formed
part of Guthlaxton hundred. It raised its own rate
and was a separate civil parish until 1896, when part
of it (567 acres), which had been transferred to Leicester borough in 1892, was absorbed in Leicester
civil parish. (fn. 1) In 1892 the remainder of the parish
had been left out of the borough after a petition
against its inclusion alleged that it was largely
agricultural. The eastern portion, which included
Manor Road, was attached to Oadby parish, while
the southern part, lying between Washpit Brook and
Wigston Urban District, was attached to Lubbesthorpe but was united with Leicester in 1935. (fn. 2)
Knighton lies on Boulder Clay in the north, and
in the south extends to the band of mixed clay and
limestone which runs east from the Welford road to
the east side of the village of Oadby. The British
Railways (Midland) line from Leicester to Market
Harborough runs through the west of the parish. To
the north lies the area known as Stoneygate, and to
the north-west, Clarendon Park. The main roads
which run through the parish are those from Leicester to Wigston and to Market Harborough.
Little of the old village of Knighton remains, although there are some small timber-framed cottages
and the 'Craddock Arms', part of which probably
dates from the early 17th century. Knighton Hall,
formerly the manor-house, also dates from the 17th
century. The oldest parts of the house are built on a
timber-frame structure, covered with roughcast, and
rising to three gables. The front of the house was
added at various dates in the 18th century and is of
red brick with cement-covered moulded brick sills,
window-frames and string courses. There is a projecting semi-circular porch with two Tuscan columns.
The 18th-century extensions are probably to be
attributed to John Johnson, the Leicester architect. (fn. 3)
In 1846 the lord of the manor was using the house as
a hunting box. (fn. 4) It is now the property of University
College, Leicester, and is the official residence of the
principal.
Manor.
In 1086 the Bishop of Lincoln held
KNIGHTON, then consisting of under a hide of
land. (fn. 5) In 1143 Bishop Alexander granted out land
worth £10 to Robert le Bossu, Earl of Leicester, who
held it for the service of one knight's fee. After a
complicated series of transactions involving Robert
and his successors, the bishops of Lincoln, and
Leicester Abbey, to which Robert had granted the
property, it was eventually returned to the see of
Lincoln in 1218. (fn. 6) Knighton remained the property
of the bishops of Lincoln until in 1547 the bishop
granted the manor to Edward VI. (fn. 7) In 1577 it was
granted to Matthew Farnham of Quorndon and Sir
George Turpin of Knaptoft by Elizabeth I. Farnham's brothers, Thomas (d. 1562) and Robert, had
been successively stewards of a number of Crown
manors including Knighton. In his will, Matthew
Farnham valued his right and title in Knighton at £20
yearly and left it to his son Humphrey. (fn. 8) After this
until the end of the 18th century the descent of the
manor is completely obscured. (fn. 9) No lord of the manor
is mentioned in the inclosure award of 1756, (fn. 10) although the chief landowners were the family of
Craddock, from whom Sir Edmund Craddock Hartopp, lord of the manor in 1800, was descended. (fn. 11) He
was the son of Joseph Bunney and Mary Craddock,
and took the additional names of Craddock and Hartopp upon succeeding to various properties in Knighton under the will of his maternal uncle, Joseph
Craddock, and upon his marriage to Anne Hurlock,
granddaughter of Sir John Hartopp of Freeby. (fn. 12)
By the 18th century the Craddock family had long
been settled in Leicester, and were notable citizens
and merchants there. (fn. 13) The first member of the
family to buy land in Knighton was Edmund Craddock of Leicester, woollen-draper, who did so in
1720. (fn. 14) It would seem as though the manorial rights
had been forgotten or extinguished during the 18th
century, which would explain the omission of any
mention of a lord of the manor in 1756. In 1846 Sir
Edmund Craddock Hartopp was described as lord
of the manor, (fn. 15) and his descendant, also Sir Edmund,
Principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, was lord in
1878. (fn. 16) The manor-house, Knighton Hall, was sold
by their descendant Colonel Edmund Craddock in
1931. (fn. 17) Much of the Craddock property at Knighton
was sold as building lots in 1854, though some had
been disposed of earlier. (fn. 18)
Economic History.
Knighton's 2/3 hide was
stated to be sufficient to support 6 ploughs at the
time of the Domesday survey. There were 30 acres of
meadow and the enumerated population amounted to
20 villeins and 4 socmen. (fn. 19) About 1230 there were 7
substantial free tenants and 16 others who, though
free and performing no services, had very small
holdings and small rents. There were in addition
24 villeins, whose services were on a considerably
higher scale than those of the free tenants. (fn. 20) In 1327
23 persons were named in the tax list, the highest
contribution being 3s. 9d., and 200 years later 24
persons were assessed for tax. (fn. 21)
Knighton was inclosed in 1756, when 17 proprietors from 14 families received allotments from
the 1,520 acres which remained for distribution when
the land for roads, houses, and gardens had been
subtracted. Of these 17, the three members of the
Craddock family received about 700 acres, or nearly
half the total available land. Several ancient closes
were put into the award and reallotted. There were
four fields, called Stockwell, Safforn, Goldhill, and
the Breach Field, (fn. 22) and about 100 acres of meadow
and pasture called the Cow Pasture. Of the members
of yeoman families of long standing, Edward Inge
received 260 acres and two members of the Foster
family received just over 132 acres. Of other names,
that of Edmund Johnson, dyer, who received just
over 127 acres, seems prophetic of Knighton's future
in the coming century as a place of residence for
business men from Leicester. (fn. 23) By 1832 only four of
the families who had owned land in 1756 still held
any. The Craddocks sold a great deal of their land
before 1832, and part at least of it was purchased by
the Kecks of Stoughton Grange. (fn. 24)
Framework-knitters are mentioned at Knighton
during the 18th century, though they had disappeared
by 1844. (fn. 25) The sole indication of any form of industrial activity to be found in the parish registers, however, is a solitary reference to a stocking-weaver in
1712. A carpenter and a cordwainer are mentioned
in the inclosure award. For the most part the village
of Knighton itself remained quietly agricultural until
the last quarter of the 19th century, and was somewhat overshadowed by the development of its suburban neighbours, Stoneygate and Charendon Park.
In 1846 and 1877 agricultural land still formed the
greater part of the parish and in 1877 there were still
three large farms. (fn. 26)
The growth of the area known as Stoneygate (fn. 27) to
form the chief residential suburb of 19th-century
Leicester seems to have begun in the last years of
the 18th century. The first house in Stoneygate is
said to have been built on the Harborough-Loughborough turnpike about 1760 by Samuel Oliver,
Mayor of Leicester in 1762. (fn. 28) The evidence for this
is not known and it is not clear to which house the
statement refers, but it seems likely that it means
Stoneygate House, in the present Toller Road, which
was built before 1779, but cannot have been built
long before. (fn. 29) It is a large stucco house with a steeply
pitched slate roof and was enlarged in the early 19th
century. In 1846 it was the home of a grocer, Thomas
Nunneley, (fn. 30) but was later purchased by Richard
Toller, who gave his name to the road which was
built on part of his estate after his death in 1896. (fn. 31)
Stoneygate House was not, however, the first house
to exist on the Harborough road. Parts of The
Stoney Gate, 227 London Road, date probably from
the late 17th century and seem to have formed part
of a farmhouse. (fn. 32) The kitchens and the whole front
of the house are probably 17th-century work as are
some of the outbuildings. About 1780 the whole
house and at least part of the farm buildings were
recased in soft red brick, the gables were heightened
artificially, and a wing was built at the rear. The new
style of the house was Gothic of an early, delicate
variety; the library, which preserves some of its
Gothic mouldings, is certainly of this date, though
the drawing-room may be a little later. Thus converted from a farm into a gentleman's residence, The
Stoney Gate remained in 1955 much as it did in 1800,
though considerable alterations to the interior took
place in 1949–51. The house was for many years the
home of Major W. J. Freer, Clerk of the Peace for
Leicestershire. (fn. 33)
In a directory of 1846, 10 houses are listed in
Stoneygate, all belonging to prosperous Leicester
tradesmen and professional men. (fn. 34) Among them were
C. B. Robinson, whose house, The Shrubbery, had
ornamental gardens by Paxton (fn. 35) and who was the
lessee of the Leicester gas works; John Biggs, whose
house stood where Knighton Park Road now runs; (fn. 36)
and Richard Toller. Springfield House (now 2
Springfield Road) and Brookfield are other named
houses which still stood in 1955. In 1848 Samuel
Stone built his new house, Elmfield. (fn. 37) Development
was accelerated by the sale of part of the D'Oyly
estate, adjoining Elmfield in 1858. (fn. 38) One of the houses
built on this land was G. B. Franklin's school, built
in 1859. (fn. 39) In 1863 there were 32 houses. (fn. 40) Up to this
time the development of the area had been the work
of independent persons building large houses in
spacious grounds for their own use; these were for
the most part on the London road. About 1865
the side roads appeared, and the area began to interest
speculative builders and land societies. Knighton
Park Road was laid out in 1867, across the grounds
which had belonged to John Biggs's house, and before
1870 several houses had been built along it. (fn. 41) Avenue
Road appeared at about the same time and was the
scene of early activity on the part of the Freehold
Land Society; it was long used as allotment ground (fn. 42)
and the absence of houses along its north side is
probably to be explained by this. Stoneygate Road
was proposed in or just before 1867 and the area
bounded by it, London Road, and Stoughton Road
was sold in building lots in 1867. (fn. 43) Alexandra Road
and Sandown Road (formerly Lansdowne Road)
were completed between 1877 and 1881 (fn. 44) and Thornleigh, one of the houses facing London Road, was
built in 1871. (fn. 45)
Between 1875 and 1885 the Clarendon Park estate
was broken up (fn. 46) and before 1888 most of the streets
had been laid out and the houses built, (fn. 47) mostly in
terraces of red brick. Some of the area was owned
and developed by Samuel Francis Stone, whose own
house, The Woodlands, gave its name to Woodland
Avenue, also laid out from land belonging to Stoneygate House. On the other side of London Road,
Francis Smith developed an area of terrace houses
in Francis Street. (fn. 48)
To the south, beyond Knighton Road, building
along the London road took place from an early
date, and the suburb known as New or South
Knighton began to grow up about 1880. Large
houses continued to be built along London Road,
and the roads to the east of it were the result of
building development towards the end of the century.
A further part of the D'Oyly estate, facing Stoughton
Road and London Road, was sold in 1868. (fn. 49)
The social position of those who developed Stoneygate had great effect upon its character. The houses
were at first large and set in their own grounds, and
the tree-lined London Road of today is the result of
this. The early houses were Italianate in style, like
the two which flank the eastern end of Knighton
Park Road. About 1860 came the Gothic houses, like
Stoneygate School, of a much heavier style than the
graceful Gothic of The Stoney Gate. Finally, about
1875 the timbered house began to appear, and by far
the greater part of the large houses built in the latter
part of the century are in this style, which was perfected in Leicester by architects such as Isaac Barradale, many of whose houses are easily recognizable
today. (fn. 50)
By 1880 Stoneygate was virtually a part of Leicester. The population of the parish of Knighton rose
from 383 in 1831 to nearly three times that number
40 years later, and increased by nearly 1,000 between
1871 and 1881. (fn. 51) The tramway from Leicester to
Stoneygate was opened in 1875. (fn. 52) Building continued
to the south of the old village between the wars and
practically the whole of the parish is now a built-up
area.
Church.
Ecclesiastically, Knighton was separated
from the parish of St. Margaret, Leicester in 1878, (fn. 53)
to which it had apparently been attached since before
1086. (fn. 54) The parish of St. John the Baptist, Clarendon
Park Road, was formed from Knighton in 1917, (fn. 55)
the church having been built as a chapel of ease in
1885. The architects were Goddard and Paget of
Leicester and the church was built largely from a
gift of £6,000 from Miss Sarah Barlow. (fn. 56) The church
of St. Michael and All Angels was built near Knighton Fields Road in 1898 and the parish was formed
in 1930. (fn. 57) The architect was S. Perkins Pick. (fn. 58) A
chapel of ease, St. Guthlac's, was attached to Knighton in 1912. The building is only partially completed
and was one of the last works of the architect J.
Stockdale Harrison. (fn. 59)
Knighton, as a chapelry of St. Margaret's, was
served from that church until 1878. (fn. 60) The advowsons
of the three parish churches in Knighton were in
1956 vested in the Bishop of Leicester. (fn. 61)
In 1646 the committee of sequestrators ordered
that £25 from the revenues of St. Margaret's and a
similar sum from the estates of Sir John Beaumont
should be paid yearly for the upkeep of a minister at
Knighton, whose curate then received only £5 yearly.
Similar orders were made in 1649 and 1650 but in
1716 the chapelry was worth only £6. (fn. 62) In 1649 the
Council of State ordered an inquiry into a 'very foul
riot' and 'great insolency and violence' shown towards Dr. Harding who had been appointed to
preach a probation sermon in the chapel, with a view
to being appointed permanent chaplain. (fn. 63) Shortly
after the creation of the parish of Knighton the living
was worth £240 yearly. (fn. 64) The prebendary of St.
Margaret's received the tithes from Knighton. The
great tithes were commuted for a yearly payment of
£120, and the small tithes for £6, by the inclosure
award. There were 7½ acres of glebe in 1756.
The present church of ST. MARY MAGDALENE contains no fabric earlier than the 13th
century when it probably consisted simply of chancel
and nave. About the middle of the 14th century a
new nave of four bays with chancel and west tower
was built against the north side of the old church,
the former nave thus becoming the south aisle. The
tower was raised by an additional stage, making a
total of four, and early in the 15th century it was
crowned by a slender octagonal spire. The interior
of the church was restored in about 1860. (fn. 65) The roof
had probably been restored during the 18th century.
An organ recess has been constructed in the south
wall of the chancel, and on the same side of the
church there is a small vestry. The north porch is
also modern. The church is built of rubble with
sandstone dressings, but the original fabric has
become overlaid by extensive restorations. The east
window has three trefoil lights. The tower is of sandstone ashlar and has traces of ball-flower decoration
at the top of its third stage. The fourth stage has a
battlemented parapet with crocketed pinnacles and
grotesque gargoyles at each angle. The spire is lit by
small windows set alternately in the faces.
In the chancel are sedilia with three seats and a
decorated hood. The pulpit is modern, (fn. 66) but the
font, although badly damaged, probably dates from
the 13th century and is decorated with narrow beading at top and bottom. There are four bells: (1) 1796
by Edward Arnold of Leicester; (2) 1770 by Joseph
Eayre of St. Neots; (3) 1769 by Joseph Eayre; (4)
1627. (fn. 67) The registers date from 1654, but no other
parish records survive independently of St. Margaret's parish. The plate includes a silver cup of 1732,
made by William Draker and engraved with the
names of the then churchwardens, including that of
Edmund Craddock. There is also a silver plate,
perhaps dating from 1684, presented by Sir Edmund
Craddock Hartopp in 1839. (fn. 68)
Roman Catholicism.
The mission of St.
Thomas More was established in 1947 and the church,
at the corner of Knighton Road and Southernhay
Road, was built in 1951. (fn. 69) The St. Francis Hospital
in London Road is run by a community of Franciscan
Minoresses and was opened in 1941. (fn. 70) The convent
and school of Our Lady of the Angels (the Poor
Clares) was opened in Ratcliffe Road in 1955.
Protestant Nonconformity.
Three dissenting meeting-houses are mentioned as being in
Knighton in 1669, but as they are the same as those
given elsewhere as being in St. Margaret's parish, it
is impossible to tell whether the houses were in Knighton or another part of the mother parish. (fn. 71) The latter
is perhaps more likely. There were three Anabaptists
in Knighton at the beginning of the 18th century (fn. 72)
and occasional references to members of that sect
occur throughout the century in the parish registers.
In 1768 a meeting-house was built, but it is not clear
to which sect it belonged. (fn. 73) In 1802 the house of
Peter Manning was licensed as a meeting-house. (fn. 74)
The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1816 and sixteen
members of this church were reported in 1829. (fn. 75)
This chapel was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1871. (fn. 76)
The development of Stoneygate and Clarendon Park
was marked by the erection of six chapels of various
denominations. Stoneygate Baptist church (1914) (fn. 77)
and Clarendon Park Congregational chapel (1886) (fn. 78)
are both in London Road. The Wesleyan Methodist
chapel (1901) (fn. 79) in Clarendon Park Road replaced a
mission chapel farther west in the same road. (fn. 80)
Clarendon Hall, the Baptist chapel in Clarendon
Park Road, was built in 1894. (fn. 81) The former Primitive
Methodist chapel in Queen's Road was built in 1887
and taken over by the Salvation Army in 1901. (fn. 82) The
Congregational chapel in Queen's Road was built in
1905. (fn. 83) A Quaker meeting-house was built in 1955 in
Queen's Road, opposite Victoria Park.
Schools.
The National school was built by Sir
Edmund Craddock Hartopp in 1840 and an infants'
school was added in 1874. (fn. 84) Church schools were
built for St. John's, Clarendon Park Road, in 1890. (fn. 85)
After the southern part of Knighton parish had been
brought into the borough of Leicester in 1892 the
need of school accommodation was met by the Leicester School Board. (fn. 85)
Charities.
James Willey by will dated 1803 left
£50 in trust for bread to be distributed monthly to
such of the poor of the parish as attended church
regularly. (fn. 86)