Knebworth

History

There is evidence of people living in the area as far back as the 11th century as it is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 where it is referred to as Chenepeworde with a recorded population of 33 households and land belonging to Eskil (of Ware), or simply There is an alternative interpretation, though, that the name could instead have meant 'village on the hill'. The spelling of the name 'Chenepeworde' has since changed to become the modern spelling of 'Knebworth'. The original village, now known as Old Knebworth, developed within the parish of the Church of St Mary and St Thomas. The stone church was built around 1120, and although the Domesday Book makes no mention of the church there is speculation to suggest there may have been a Saxon church of timber on the site before the more substantial one was built. The manor passed into the hands of the Lytton family around 1492, when the manor house was rebuilt to a Late Gothic manor house. The house changed very little until the 19th century when it was re-modelled into the present-day Tudor Gothic building. Knebworth was a largely agricultural community, producing wheat and barley in particular. The proximity to London via the Great North Road (subsequently the A1, and now the B197 since the opening of the A1(M) motorway in 1962) made it possible to transport produce. Her daughter, the suffragette Constance Lytton, also lived there, until just before her death in 1923. Edith's third daughter, Lady Emily Bulwer-Lytton, had married Lutyens in 1897. Lutyens was responsible for a number of notable buildings in the new village of Knebworth as well, including the Bank, St Martin's church, the Golf Clubhouse and the telephone exchange. Knebworth has, since 1974, been famously associated with numerous major open air…