Knutsford#Ordination Test School

{{see also|History of Cheshire}}

Knutsford was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cunetesford ("Canute's ford").{{OpenDomesday|OS=SJ7578 |name=Knutsford |display=Knutsford |access-date=21 October 2017 }} King Canute (Knútr in Old Norse) was the king of England (1016–1035) and later king of Denmark, Norway and parts of Sweden as well. Local tradition says that King Canute blessed a wedding that was taking place and forded the River Lily, which was said to be dangerous then, though other reports say it was the Birkin Brook at or near Booth Mill.{{cite web |url=http://www.domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire1.html |title=The Domesday Book Online – Cheshire A-K |access-date=9 February 2009 |publisher=www.domesdaybook.co.uk |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070805022555/http://domesdaybook.co.uk/cheshire1.html |archive-date=5 August 2007}}.{{Harvnb|Dodgson|1970|pp=73, 74}} The English Place-Name Society gives the name as being derived from the Old English for Knutr's ford or possibly hillock ford.{{cite web |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/cheshire/Knutsford%20Nether%20and%20Overton |title=Knutsford Nether and Overton |work=Key To English Place Names |publisher=English Place Name Society |access-date=8 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928223258/http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/cheshire/Knutsford%20Nether%20and%20Overton |archive-date=28 September 2015}}

In 1292, Edward I granted Knutsford a market charter, allowing the town to hold a weekly market and annual fairs.

Knutsford was historically part of the ancient parish of Rostherne. A chapel of ease to serve Knutsford was built in the 14th century on a site to the east of the town near Booths Mere. The chapel was initially dedicated to St Helena and later to St John.{{NHLE|desc=Site of St John's Church and surrounding burial ground, 400m NW of Booths Mere|num=1014378}}{{cite web |title=Church of St John |url=https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=74794&resourceID=19191 |website=Heritage Gateway |access-date=20 February 2025}} In 1741, Knutsford was made a separate parish from Rostherne.{{cite book |last1=Hanshall |first1=J. H. |title=The History of the County Palatine of Chester |date=1817 |publisher=John Fletcher |location=Chester |page=389 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_the_County_Palatine_of_Ch/wsYHAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA389&printsec=frontcover |access-date=20 February 2025}} St John the Baptist's Church was built between 1741 and 1744, on a site in the centre of the town to serve as the new parish church; the old chapel to the east of the town was demolished.{{NHLE|desc=Church of St John the Baptist|num=1388324|grade=II*}}

Knutsford gaol was built in 1817 and later extended in 1853. It was not just built to house those committed of crimes but also to house those who could not be employed. In 1915, due to the low population and there being an ongoing World War, the gaol was used as a military prison for the detention of soldiers found guilty of committing offences. From 1916, it was used to house conscientious objectors who broke the Military Service Act 1916. In April 1916, there was an Easter Rising in Ireland, where rebels hoped to form an independent Ireland free from British rule. At least 600 rebels involved in that rising were transported to Knutsford by train from Holyhead and imprisoned in Knutsford Gaol. During this period, many prisoners were not properly fed and resorted to eating grass and anything discarded by visitors.{{Cite journal |url=http://journals.openedition.org/etudesirlandaises/6029 |title=The Knutsford Hotel. Irish Volunteer Prisoners in Knutsford Gaol in 1916 |first=David |last=Shaw |date=18 December 2018 |journal=Études irlandaises |issue=43–2 |pages=9–23 |via=journals.openedition.org |doi=10.4000/etudesirlandaises.6029 |doi-access=free}} The gaol was demolished in 1934.{{cite web |url=http://www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/History/LocalHistory |title=History of Knutsford |publisher = Knutsford Town Council |access-date= 3 November 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140731160233/http://www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/History/LocalHistory |archive-date=31 July 2014 }}

Knutsford was the place in which General George S. Patton, shortly before the Normandy invasion, delivered a speech perceived to be critical of the Soviets, and to have "slap(ped) the face of every one of the United Nations except Great Britain", which nearly ended his career.{{citation |last=Lovelace |first=Alexander G. |chapter=The Image of a General: The Wartime Relationship between General George S. Patton Jr. and the American Media |title=Journalism History |volume= 40 |issue=2 |date = Summer 2014 |pages=108–120}}

After the Second World War, overspill housing estates were created in the town to accommodate families from Manchester. The Longridge overspill estate was built in Over Ward by Manchester City Council in the 1960s. At the end of the 20th century, all of the homes on the estate that had not already been sold to their occupants were transferred to Manchester Methodist Housing.

In 2005, Knutsford was named as the most expensive town to buy a house in Northern England, followed by nearby town Altrincham. There is an extremely large range of house prices in Knutsford, varying from approximately £175,000 to nearly £4,000,000 in late 2017. The average price is above £400,000.{{cite web |url = https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/browse/knutsford/?q=Knutsford%2C%20Cheshire |title = House prices in Knutsford |publisher = Zoopla |access-date = 3 November 2017 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171107013450/https://www.zoopla.co.uk/house-prices/browse/knutsford/?q=Knutsford%2C%20Cheshire |archive-date = 7 November 2017 |df = dmy-all }}

File:Around Knutsford (16) - geograph.org.uk - 7104156.jpg of Knutsford Gaol]]

There are two tiers of local government covering Knutsford, at civil parish (town) and unitary authority level: Knutsford Town Council and Cheshire East Council. The town council is based at the Council Offices on Toft Road,{{cite web |title=Contact us |url=https://www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk/council/contact |website=Knutsford Town Council |access-date=21 February 2025}} which had been built in 1846 as the Governor's House for Knutsford Gaol.{{NHLE|desc=Knutsford Town Council Offices (former prison governor's house)|num=1378497|grade=II}}

For national elections, the town forms part of the Tatton constituency, named after Tatton Park which lies immediately north of the town.{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Suvey |access-date=21 February 2025}}

Knutsford was historically in the ancient parish of Rostherne, which formed part of the Bucklow Hundred of Cheshire. Rostherne parish was subdivided into several townships, including Nether Knutsford (or Knutsford Inferior) and Over Knutsford (or Knutsford Superior). The main part of the town was in Nether Knutsford township, with Over Knutsford lying to the south-east.{{cite web |title=Cheshire Sheet XXVII |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/102341032 |website=National Library of Scotland |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=21 February 2025 |date=1882}} In 1741, Knutsford was made a separate parish, which contained the five townships of Nether Knutsford, Over Knutsford, Bexton, Ollerton, and Toft.{{cite web |title=Knutsford Chapelry / Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10218895#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=21 February 2025}}

From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the poor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, including Rostherne and Knutsford, the civil functions were exercised by each township separately rather than the parish as a whole. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws and so the townships also became civil parishes.{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume II, Northern England |date=1991 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0861931270 |page=xv}}

When elected parish and district councils were established in December 1894, under the Local Government Act 1894, Nether Knutsford and Over Knutsford were both briefly included in the Altrincham Rural District and given separate parish councils. The two townships were subsequently merged into a single civil parish and urban district of Knutsford, which came into effect on 1 April 1895.{{cite book |title=Annual Report of the Local Government Board |date=1895 |page=238 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Annual_Report_of_the_Local_Government_Bo/gFIwAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA238&printsec=frontcover |access-date=21 February 2025}} The urban district council bought the former Governor's House of Knutsford Gaol in 1929 and converted the building to serve as its offices and meeting place.{{cite news |title=Knutsford Council: Purchase of Governor's House |url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0002856%2F19291206&page=11 |access-date=21 February 2025 |work=Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser |date=6 December 1929 |page=11}}

Knutsford Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972.{{cite web |title=Knutsford Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10153980 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=University of Portsmouth |access-date=21 February 2025}} District-level functions passed to Macclesfield Borough Council. A successor parish covering the area of the former Knutsford Urban District was created at the same time, with its parish council taking the name Knutsford Town Council.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973|year=1973|number=1110}} In 2009, Cheshire East Council was created, taking over the functions of the borough council and Cheshire County Council, which were both abolished.{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cheshire (Structural Changes) Order 2008|year=2008|number=634|access-date=8 May 2024}}

File:Knutsford Motorway Services - geograph.org.uk - 35882.jpg]]

Knutsford has excellent access to the motorway network, with junctions to the M6 (J19) and M56 (J7) motorways nearby. However, this can also have disadvantages as the A50, which runs through Knutsford town centre, follows a similar route to the M6 between Warrington and Stoke-on-Trent; this means that if the M6 is closed, due to an accident or roadworks, then a large volume of traffic transfers to the A50 and causes major traffic jams in Knutsford.

Knutsford railway station is a stop on the Mid-Cheshire Line that runs between {{rws|Chester}} and {{rws|Manchester Piccadilly}}, via Altrincham and {{rws|Stockport}}.

The station was built in 1862 by the Cheshire Midland Railway (CMR). The CMR was absorbed into the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) in August 1867; this entity continued to serve Knutsford until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. The rail service to Manchester was re-routed via a slower route when the Manchester Metrolink trams took over the CLC direct line between Altrincham and Manchester; the heavy rail service was re-routed, via Stockport, to Manchester.

Currently, Northern Trains generally runs an hourly service in both directions. Trains operate to Northwich and Chester to the south-west; northbound services travel to Altrincham, Stockport and Manchester. There are extra trains to and from Stockport at peak times on weekdays. On Sundays, there is a service every two hours in each direction.{{Cite web |title=Timetables and engineering information for travel with Northern |work=Northern Railway |date=May 2023 |access-date=3 September 2023 |url= https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables |quote=}}

The number of weekday peak trains to Manchester was cut back controversially in December 2008, to allow Virgin Trains West Coast to run extra services between Manchester and London. Knutsford was expected to get a half-hourly train services to Northwich and Manchester (Monday to Saturday) by December 2017, with an increase in the Sunday frequency to hourly, but the promised additional services have failed to materialise.{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-franchise-2015-invitation-to-tender|title=Northern franchise 2015: invitation to tender – Publications – GOV.UK|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150401093834/https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-franchise-2015-invitation-to-tender|archive-date=1 April 2015}}

D&G Bus operates three bus routes in the town, which can be accessed from Knutsford bus station:{{Cite web |title=Knutsford bus services |website=Bustimes.org |access-date=20 April 2025 |url= https://bustimes.org/localities/knutsford}}

• 87 - Knutsford to Macclesfield, via Chelford and Henbury
• 88 - Altrincham to Macclesfield, via Wilmslow and Hale Barns
• 89 - Knutsford to Northwich, via Wincham and Lostock Gralam.

Manchester Airport is located {{convert|5|mi|km|0}} from Knutsford in the civil parish of Ringway; however, there are no direct bus or railway links to it from the town.

Knutsford town centre has several restaurants and pubs, coffee shops, boutiques, antique shops and art galleries. It has several supermarkets, including Booths, Aldi, Little Waitrose, Sainsbury's Local, Olive & Sage{{Cite web |url=https://www.oliveandsage.co.uk/|title=Olive and Sage Garden Decor Store}} and two Co-op stores.

Tesco used to have a small shop in the town centre, which closed many years ago. The retailer had hoped to open a larger store on the edge of the town on Mobberley Road, but councillors in Mobberley objected to the proposed development, thinking it might result in more cars travelling through their village.

In 2008, Aldi announced plans to open a superstore in Knutsford, but construction did not begin until September 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/search/display.var.2078038.0.aldi_buys_store_land_in_town_centre.php|title=Aldi buys store land in town centre (From Knutsford Guardian)}} The store officially opened in July 2013.

Barclays has a large campus site at Radbroke Hall on Toft Road just outside Knutsford,{{cite web|url=https://www.placenorthwest.co.uk/news/barclays-to-overhaul-radbroke-campus/|title=Barclays to overhaul Radbroke campus|date=18 February 2021|publisher=Place North West|access-date=25 July 2021}} employing approximately 3,000 staff in IT and support functions. Before Barclays purchased the site, it was owned by The Nuclear Power Group.

File:Knutsford swJanaChrzciciela.jpg

St John the Baptist church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the located in the Church of England's Diocese of Chester built between 1741 and 1744. It is in the Conservative Evangelical tradition of the Church of England and it has passed resolutions to reject the ordination of women.

St Cross is an Anglican church recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, built between 1880 and 1887. Unlike St John's, the church has had two female vicars since the Church of England approved the ordination of women.

St Vincent de Paul is a Catholic church in the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The current church opened in 1983, replacing an older church on the same site dating from the 1920s that was demolished due to subsidence. The first St Vincent de Paul church is still standing and has since been converted in to The Little Theatre. The current church includes a plaque blessed by Pope John Paul II on his visit to Manchester in 1982.{{Cite web|url=https://stvincentsknutsford.org/parish-history|title=Parish History – St Vincent De Paul RC Church, Knutsford}} The church was modified in 1999 to include an apse with a stained glass window, which had previously been installed at Cross and Passion Sisters convent chapel in Maryfield, Dublin. The church claims the window was designed by Harry Clarke,{{Cite web|url=https://stvincentsknutsford.org/harry-clarke-stained-glass-window|title=Harry Clarke Stained Glass Window – St Vincent De Paul RC Church, Knutsford}} although other sources state the window is too modern to have been designed by Clarke himself but it can still be attributed to the Harry Clarke Studio.{{Cite web|url=https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/knutsford-st-vincent-de-paul/|title=Knutsford – St Vincent de Paul|website=Taking Stock}}

There is a Methodist church; a Unitarian church dating from 1689, where the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell is buried; and a Gospel church, located in the old ticket office at Knutsford station.

In 1919, Toc H founder Tubby Clayton opened a school (originally in the abandoned Knutsford Gaol) to begin the training of men leaving the armed forces, so that they might eventually train for ordination. This first Knutsford Ordination Test School, for service-men and funded by central church funds, was closed in 1922 and a new, private successor for civilians opened in a house in Knutsford called "Kilrie" in the same year.{{Church Times | title = The training of service candidates | archive = 1922_10_06_327 | issue = 3115 | date = 6 October 1922 | page = 327 | accessed = 17 August 2024 }} The school moved to the Old Rectory in Hawarden, Wales, where it was opened by A. G. Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph and Archbishop of Wales, and Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of York, on 26 January 1927.{{Church Times | title = The Church finance | archive = 1926_11_19_583 | issue = 3330 | date = 19 November 1926 | page = 583 | accessed = 17 August 2024 }} By Michaelmas 1939, when the Old Rectory was required for housing refugees,{{Church Times | title = Theological colleges in war-time | archive = 1939_09_22_253 | issue = 4000 | date = 22 September 1939 | page = 253 | accessed = 17 August 2024 }} the school relocated one last time to Hawarden Castle before closing finally the next year.{{Church Times | title = (bottom, column B) | archive = 1940_05_24_381 | issue = 4035 | date = 24 May 1940 | page = 381 | accessed = 17 August 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/1c14e139-e571-409b-9e14-5e41b183c39e |title=Knutsford Ordination Test School Knutsford Fellowship |website=National Archives |access-date=13 August 2024 }}{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401225416/https://monumentoffame.org/2018/02/16/the-first-world-war-and-clergy-training/ |archive-date=1 April 2023 |url=https://monumentoffame.org/2018/02/16/the-first-world-war-and-clergy-training/ |website=The Lambeth Palace Library Blog |title=The First World War and Clergy Training |date=16 February 2018 |access-date=13 August 2024 }}{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316144821/https://butleigh.org/images/GeorgeNGHawarden.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2016 |website=Butleigh |title=A brief History of the Old Rectory, Hawarden |author=E. Newman |url=https://butleigh.org/images/GeorgeNGHawarden.pdf |access-date=13 August 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://manchestervictorianarchitects.org.uk/buildings/hawarden-ordination-test-school |title=Hawarden Ordination Test School |website=Architects of Greater Manchester |access-date=13 August 2024 }}

There were other Ordination Test Schools, including the predecessor of the House of the Epiphany, Kuching.

Knutsford has five primary schools (one of these is a Roman Catholic school); it also has a high school, Knutsford Academy, which also has a sixth form. Some secondary school pupils from the town travel to schools in Altrincham, Hartford, Holmes Chapel, Hale and Macclesfield. Some sixth formers from the town travel to colleges in Northwich and Timperley. Macclesfield College run some adult education courses in Knutsford and Age UK run computer courses for the over 50s at Knutsford Library.

Knutsford Cricket Club[http://knutsford.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp Knutsford Cricket Club official website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310143314/http://knutsford.play-cricket.com/home/home.asp |date=10 March 2012 }} Retrieval Date: 25 September 2007. was established in 1881 and plays its home games on Mereheath Lane in the Cheshire Cricket Alliance.{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20160128211952/http://mbccl.co.uk/ Meller Braggins Cricket League Official website.]}} Retrieval Date: 25 September 2007.

Toft Cricket Club{{cite web|title=Toft Cricket Club|url=http://toft.play-cricket.com/|website=Toft Cricket Club official website|access-date=19 December 2016}} is located at Booths Park, Chelford Road. The Cricket Club gets its name from a neighbouring civil parish of Toft, where the original ground was located when the club was established in 1928. Toft play in the ECB Premier Division of the Cheshire County Cricket League[http://www.cheshirecountycl.org.uk/ Cheshire County Cricket League Official website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028114912/http://www.cheshirecountycl.org.uk/ |date=28 October 2016 }} Retrieval Date: 19 December 2016. It won the National Village Championship trophy at Lords in 1989.

Knutsford Hockey Club[http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/knutsfordhockeyclub Knutsford Hockey Club official website.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170210171035/http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/knutsfordhockeyclub |archive-date=5 February 2016 }} Retrieval Date: 19 December 2016. plays its home games at Knutsford Leisure Centre and are based at the Crosstown Bowling Club on Chelford Road. This 100-year-old club runs 3 men's teams, a ladies team, a mixed team and a badgers team. The Men's 1st XI play in Division 1 of The North West Hockey League{{cite web |url=http://www.northwesthockeyleague.co.uk/ |title=The North West Hockey League |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205141507/http://www.northwesthockeyleague.co.uk/ |date=5 February 2016 |archive-date=5 February 2016}}

Knutsford Football Club, formed in 1948, play at their Manchester Road ground. The club has two Saturday teams, the first team in the Cheshire League and the second or A team in the Altrincham and District League. Two Associated Veterans teams also play on Sundays in the Cheshire Veterans League. In 2015, a youth team has been fielded again after a break of 127 years.{{cite web |url=http://www.knutsfordfootballclub.co.uk/ |title=Knutsford Football Club |access-date=1 December 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161014100042/http://www.knutsfordfootballclub.co.uk/ |archive-date=14 October 2016 |df=dmy-all}}

Every ten years, Knutsford hosts an international three-hour endurance race for Penny-farthing bicycles.{{cite news |title=Penny farthing race takes place in Knutsford |date=5 September 2010 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11192407 |work=BBC News |access-date=6 September 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905194035/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-11192407 |archive-date=5 September 2010}}

Regional local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada. Television signals are received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. {{cite web |url=https://ukfree.tv/transmitters/tv/Winter_Hill |title=Full Freeview on the Winter Hill (Bolton, England) transmitter |publisher=UK Free TV |access-date=28 September 2023}}

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Manchester, Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West, Capital North West & Wales, Heart North West and Cheshire's Silk Radio.{{cn|date= September 2024}}

The Knutsford Guardian and Knutsford Times are the local newspapers in the town. {{Cite web |url=https://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk/|title=Knutsford Guardian|access-date=28 September 2023}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.knutsfordtimes.com//|title=Knutsford Times|access-date=28 September 2023}}

File:Man Sanding the street in Knutsfrod for May Day 1920.jpg

There are many events in and around the town each year including the May Day festivities, the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park and the Cheshire County Show in the parish of Tabley.

The annual Knutsford Royal May Day festival is where hundreds of people parade through the streets and the May Queen is crowned. During the May Day weekend, there is also a funfair run on ‘'The Heath'’, a large field near the centre of Knutsford where the crowning of the May Queen also takes place. This is said to be one of the largest travelling funfairs in the UK, with a large selection of rides and games to enjoy.

Local folklore claims that Edward "Highwayman" Higgins had a tunnel running under The Heath, where he hid his booty.

There is a May Day custom, still observed today, of "sanding the streets" in Knutsford. The streets are decorated with coloured sands in patterns and pictures. Tradition has it that King Cnut, while fording the River Lily, threw sand from his shoes into the path of a wedding party, wishing the newly wed as many children as the grains of sand at their feet.{{cite web |url=http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/FolkloreYear-May.htm |title=The folklore year – May |access-date=9 December 2007 |url-status= live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103154056/http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/FolkloreYear-May.htm |archive-date=3 January 2008 |df= dmy-all}} The custom can be traced to the late 1600s. Queen Victoria, in her journal of 1832 recorded: "we arrived at Knutsford, where we were most civilly received, the streets being sanded in shapes which is peculiar to this town."

Knutsford was the model for Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Cranford. She lived in the town for some time, on what is now known as Gaskell Avenue, and she is buried in the Unitarian Chapel graveyard. Many of the places and people described in her books can be identified as being based on places and people in the town. In 2007, the BBC adapted the novel and produced a popular TV series Cranford. Despite several references to Knutsford, including King Street and The Heath, the TV adaptation was actually filmed in Lacock, Wiltshire. Notably, in 1987 Legh Road in Knutsford, designed by Richard Harding Watt, doubled for Colonial Shanghai in the opening scenes from Steven Spielberg's film Empire of the Sun. A Gaskell protégé who died in Knutsford in 1859 was the once-popular novelist Selina Davenport, who abandoned writing despairingly in 1834 and kept a tiny Knutsford shop instead.{{cite web|url=http://www.unl.edu/Corvey/html/Projects/CorveyNovels/Davenport/ItalianVengeanceBio.htm|title=Biography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln|last=Cruikshank|first=Jaclyn|year=2006|access-date=30 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608030134/http://www.unl.edu/Corvey/html/Projects/CorveyNovels/Davenport/ItalianVengeanceBio.htm|archive-date=8 June 2011}}

Knutsford Amateur Drama Society was established in 1925 and moved to its premises in Queen Street, Knutsford shortly after the end of the Second World War. Now known by the name of the building it occupies, Knutsford Little Theatre continues to produce a selection of plays each year, including an annual pantomime.

Knutsford Heritage Centre is situated in a 17th-century timber-framed building just off King Street, which was a blacksmith's forge in the 19th century. It has a museum, garden, shop and gallery featuring various exhibitions, talks and events, and walking tours are also available. On permanent exhibition are the May Queen's dress shoes and crown from 1887.

Scenes from the George C. Scott film Patton were filmed in the centre of Knutsford, in front of Knutsford Town Hall.[http://www.bedsite.co.uk/?p=The_Old_Town_Hall "The Old Town Hall", Knutsford.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601152811/http://www.bedsite.co.uk/?p=The_Old_Town_Hall |date=1 June 2015 }} Retrieval date: 25 September 2007 The building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse, and for much of the 20th century was home to Knutsford Boys' Club and latterly a furniture show room and post office. It is now home to the Lost & Found pub and cocktail bar.[https://the-lostandfound.co.uk/restaurant/knutsford The Lost & Found, Knutsford] Retrieval Date: 21 January 2021.

File:Peter Leycester.jpg, 1665]]

File:Edward Timpson Minister.jpg, 2014]]

• Sir Peter Leycester, 1st Baronet (1614 in Nether Tabley – 1678), an antiquarian and historian
• James Neild (1744 in Knutsford – 1814), a jeweller, prison reformer and philanthropist.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Neild, James |volume= 40 |last= Norgate |first= G. le G. |author-link= |pages= 169-170 |year= |short=1}}
• Edmund Sharpe (1809 in Knutsford – 1877), architect, architectural historian, railway engineer and sanitary reformer.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Sharpe, Edmund |volume= 51 |last= O'Donoghue |first= Freeman Marius |author-link= Freeman Marius O'Donoghue |pages= 422-423 |year= |short=1}}
• Sir Henry Royce, 1st Baronet (1863–1933), an engineer, car designer and joint founder of the Rolls-Royce company. Lived in Knutsford 1898–1912
• Brig. General Sir Ernest Makins (1869–1959), a military officer, statesman and Conservative MP for Knutsford 1922–1945
• Boyd Merriman, 1st Baron Merriman (1880 in Knutsford – 1962), a Conservative politician and judge
• Sir Edward Peel (1884 in Knutsford – 1961), a army officer, businessman, amateur sportsman and big-game fisherman; lived mainly in Egypt.
• Lt. Colonel Sir Walter Henry Bromley-Davenport (1903–1989), Conservative MP for Knutsford 1945–1970
• John Bason (born 1957 in Knutsford), businessman, on the Board of Trustees of Voluntary Service Overseas
• James Timpson, Baron Timpson (born 1971), businessman and politician, former CEO of the Timpson Group
• Edward Timpson (born 1973 in Knutsford), Conservative politician. MP for Crewe and Nantwich 2008–2017 and for Eddisbury from 2019 to 2024
• Matthew Falder (born 1988–1989), a convicted paedophile and blackmailer, lived in Knutsford

File:Elizabeth Gaskell 1832.jpg, 1832]]

• Edward Penny (1714 in Knutsford – 1791), portrait and historical painter, a founder members of the Royal Academy.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Penny, Edward |volume= 44 |last= Graves |first= Robert Edmund |author-link= Robert Edmund Graves |page= 335 |year= |short=1}}
• John Leicester, 1st Baron de Tabley (1762 in Tabley House – 1827), landowner, politician, amateur artist and patron of the arts.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Leicester, John Fleming |volume= 32 |last= Nicholson |first= Albert |author-link= |pages= 425-426 |year= 1892 | short=1}}
• Selina Davenport (1779–1859), novelist until 1834 when she ran a tiny shop in Knutsford
• Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet (1788 in Knutsford – 1873), physician and travel writer.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Holland, Henry (1788-1873) |volume= 27 |last= Bettany |first= George Thomas |author-link= George Thomas Bettany |pages= 144-145 |year= |short=1}}
• Elizabeth Gaskell (1810–1865), novelist, biographer and short story writer, grew up in Knutsford.{{cite DNB|wstitle= Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn |volume= 21 |last= Ward |first= Adolphus |author-link= Adolphus Ward |pages= 49-54 |year= |short=1}}
• Evelyn Gleeson (1855 in Knutsford – 1944), embroidery, carpet and tapestry designer
• Barrie Cooke (1931 in Knutsford – 2014), an Irish abstract expressionist painter
• Martin Edwards (born 1955 in Knutsford), a crime novelist, critic and solicitor
• Robert Heaton (1961 in Knutsford – 2004), musician, drummer in the rock band New Model Army
• Tom Walker (born 1991), Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter, grew up in Knutsford
• Ruby Barnhill (born 2004 in Knutsford), child actress, played the lead role in Steven Spielberg's 2016 film The BFG

File:Lucy Morton, championne olympique du 200 mètres brasse aux JO de 1924.jpg, 1924]]

• John Payne (1828 in Knutsford), a cricketer who played for the North of England cricket team and Manchester
• Tom Barber (1894 in Knutsford – 1936), a pro. golfer, twice finished in the top 10 in The Open Championship.
• Lucy Morton (1898 at New Tatton – 1980), swimmer, gold medallist in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 1924 Summer Olympics
• Emma Davies (born 1978 in Knutsford), cyclist, competed in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Olympics
• Aaron Wilbraham (born 1979 in Knutsford), footballer and manager, played 608 games; he last played for Rochdale A.F.C.

{{portal|Cheshire}}

• Listed buildings in Knutsford

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Dodgson|first=J. McN. |year=1970 |title=The place-names of Cheshire. Part two: The place-names of Bucklow Hundred and Northwich Hundred |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-07914-4 }}

{{Refend}}

• {{cite book |last=King |first=G. |year=1988 |title=Knutsford: A Pictorial History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=1-85058-122-3 }}

{{commons category|Knutsford}}

{{Wikivoyage|Knutsford}}

• [http://www.knutsfordtowncouncil.gov.uk Knutsford Town Council]
• [http://www.knutsfordmarket.co.uk Knutsford Market]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120311185801/http://www.cheshiremarkettowns.co.uk/ Cheshire Market Towns]
• [http://www.knutsfordguardian.co.uk Knutsford Guardian – printed news]
• [http://www.knutsfordtimes.com Knutsford Times – online news]
• [http://www.knutsfordheritage.co.uk Knutsford Heritage Centre]

{{Cheshire, Cheshire East}}

{{Cheshire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Towns in Cheshire

Category:Civil parishes in Cheshire

Category:Borough of Cheshire East