England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Knapton St Edmund

The Parish

The chapelry of Knapton, which has Wintringham as its mother church, lies in eastern Yorkshire, sitting on the northern edge of the East Riding and forming part of the boundary of that with the North Riding. Knapton is located roughly 7 miles northeast of the market town of Malton and sits immediately north of the A64 road which connects Malton through to Scarborough. The chapelry contains two tiny hamlets, East & West Knapton, both sitting less than a half mile north of the A68. The chapelry is dominated by the acreage of Knapton Hall which acted as single landowner and restricted inbound migration hence no defined village built up. The chapelry forms the northern part of Wintringham parish which extends down to the nearby Rover Derwent, the latter gave the chapelry some variation in its farming regime, pastures as well as the arable on higher ground. Modern development did choose the chapelry's area as the york to Scarborough railway line passes through between Knapton and the Derwent without granting a station. Scampston Beck drains the parish northwards to the Derwent which heads westwards to join with most other Yorkshire rivers in reaching the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Knapton is sited at around 30 metres above the sea in gentle terrain at the foot of the Wolds which rise to local heights, within a couple of miles, of 170 metres as an escarpment facing north. Knapton chapelry occupied roughly 2,700 acres of Wintringham parish and within that area would have been supported around 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Knapton is mentioned as a holding of Ralph de Mortimer but as unoccupied "waste" with potential for just 3 ploughs.

The Church

St Edmund's church sits within the grounds of Knapton Hall but has been deconsecrated and is no longer used for worship on a regular basis. Given it was purchased by a charitable trust following deconsecration in the 1970s it is to be hoped access will continue to be maintained. The church, however, is a recent replacement for a previous medieval building that was sadly destroyed by fire, fragments of Norman corbels indicate an early origin for that lost building. Today's building dates from the early 1870s and surprisingly is rather pleasing to Pevsner who appreciated its challenging architecture. The simple design of nave and chancel is augmented rather elaborately by a baptistry, northern aisle and bellcote. The presence of a separate entrance for the owners of the Hall is indicative of the influence they had over its construction and also of class attitudes of the day. Entrance to the estate is unsigned from the busy A68 where elaborate gates stand guard over the partly made driveway, the churchyard is reached before the Hall, it is set deeply within shading trees which leave just a few angles for the photographer.