Knowsley is a large village and civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley

Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley

The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood and Cronton; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres...

 in Merseyside

Merseyside

Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is more commonly known as Knowsley Village.

Historically a part of Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, according to the 2001 Census

United Kingdom Census 2001

A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

 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

Knowsley Hall

Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, in Merseyside, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by of...

 and Knowsley Safari Park

Knowsley Safari Park

-External links:**...

. 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

Stockbridge Village

Stockbridge Village is an area in Liverpool, England. The area adopted its current name in 1983 following the regeneration of the Cantril Farm housing estate, which was originally laid out during the 1960s but deteriorated rapidly due to crime and unemployment.-History:The district was built in the...

 and the northern fringe of Huyton

Huyton

Huyton is a suburb of Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, with some parts belonging to the borough of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It is part of the Liverpool Urban Area and has close associations with its neighbour, Roby, having both formerly been part of the Huyton with...

. To the west of Knowsley is the area of Woolfall Heath.

History

The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon

Old English language

Old English or Anglo-Saxon is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southeastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century...

 Cēnwulfes lēah, meaning "Cēnwulf's meadow

Meadow

A meadow is a field vegetated primarily by grass and other non-woody plants . The term is from Old English mædwe. In agriculture a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make hay...

". When the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria

Northumbria

Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...

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

The village of Knowsley is hundreds of years older than the neighbouring city of Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

. Its name occurs in the Domesday Book

Domesday Book

Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

of 1086 as Chenulveslei and has been recorded as Knuvesle (1199); Knouselegh (1258); Knouleslee (1261); Knusele (1262); and Knouslegh (1346).

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

• King Henry VII
  Henry VII of England
  Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
  
   visited in 1495.
• Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare
  William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
  
   is said to have performed in a play held in Knowsley in 1589.
• Capability Brown
  Capability Brown
  Lancelot Brown , more commonly known as Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English eighteenth-century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure...
  
   is responsible for creating some of Knowsley's landscaped gardens in the 1770s.
• Edward Lear
  Edward Lear
  Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularised.-Biography:...
  
   wrote "The Owl and the Pussycat
  The Owl and the Pussycat
  "The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published in 1871.- Background :Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds...
  
  " while staying at Knowsley Hall
  Knowsley Hall
  Knowsley Hall is a stately home near Liverpool within the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, in Merseyside, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is the ancestral home of the Stanley family, the Earls of Derby. The hall is surrounded by of...
  
  .

From 1895 the area was part of Whiston Rural District

Whiston Rural District

Whiston Rural District was a rural district of the administrative county of Lancashire, England. It was created in 1895 by renaming the Prescot Rural District when the parish of Prescot was removed from that rural district and created a separate urban district. Later the parish of Speke was...

 in Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

. On 1 April 1974 the village became part of the newly formed Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in the nascent county of Merseyside.

External links

• Liverpool Street Gallery - Liverpool 34