Knowsley (village)

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Knowsley is a civil parish and village in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,343. It gave its name to the wider borough when it was formed in 1974. The parish includes Knowsley Hall and Knowsley Park. There are three main built-up areas in the parish: the village of Knowsley, the nearby business park in the north west, and in the south-west a suburban area including Stockbridge Village and the northern fringe of Huyton.

The "ow" in the name can be pronounced as in "how" or as in "hoe", but Knowsley Village and the surrounding area usually use the latter.

The village of Knowsley (one of those in the Whiston RD) is hundreds of years older than the neighbouring city of Liverpool. Its name occurs in the Domesday Book (1086) as Chenulveslei and came from Anglo-Saxon Cēnwulfes lēah = "Cēnwulf's meadow".

[edit] History

When the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria overran the Celtic kingdom of Rheged, the village was likely taken over or founded by an Anglo-Saxon called Cēnwulf (= Keen Wolf).

There are a few notable entries in Knowsley's history:

King Henry VII visited in 1495.
Shakespeare is said to have performed in a play held in Knowsley in 1589.
Capability Brown is responsible for some of the fine landscaping of Knowsley in the 1700s.
Edward Lear wrote "The Owl and the Pussycat" while staying at Knowsley Hall.