KNUTSFORD, a parish in the hundred of BUCKLOW,
county palatine of CHESTER, comprising the market
town of Knutsford, and the townships of Bexton,
Over Knutsford, Ollerton, and Toft, and containing
3535 inhabitants, of which number, 2753 are in the
town of Nether Knutsford, 24 miles (N. E. by E.) from
Chester, and 172 (N.W. byN.) from London. This
place, which is of great antiquity, is situated on the
banks of a small stream, and near a ford, over which
Canute the Dane is said to have passed witlrhis army
for the conquest of the northern parts of the kingdom,
in the reign of Ethelred II., or that of Edmund Ironside,
and thence called Canute's Ford, from which the
town derives its name. At the Conquest, Knutsford
formed part of the barony of Halton, but in the reign
of Edward I. it came into the possession of William de
Tableigh, who obtained for it a charter of incorporation
and various privileges, all which are become obsolete.
The town consists principally of two long streets,
and is well paved and supplied with water. The houses
are in general indifferently built, and of mean appearance;
but in the immediate neighbourhood are several
handsome villas; the environs are pleasant; and near
the town is a good race-course, the races being held on
the last Tuesday in, July. Assemblies take place in
the town, in November and December. The manufacture
of thread, which formerly nourished here to a con"
siderable extent, Jias, since the introduction of machinery,
given place to the weaving of cotton, in which the
principal part of the population is employed, working
with hand-looms, for the manufacturers at Manchester
and the adjacent towns. The Trent and Mersey canal
passes within five miles of the town, affording a communication
with Liverpool, and thence with various
other parts of the kingdom. The market is on Saturday;
the fairs, to which a small number of cattle are brought
from the neighbouring villages, are, April 23rd, July 10th,
and November 8th; a cattle fair is also held at Over
Knutsford, on the Tuesday in Whitsun-week. Consta-
bles and other officers are appointed at the court leet of
the lord of the manor, who also holds a court baron:
the hundred court, and the Midsummer and Michaelmas
quarter sessions for the county, are held in the town.
The sessions-house and house of correction for the county
were erected in 1817; the former is an elegant edifice,
comprising spacious court-rooms, with the requisite accommodation
for the business of the sessions; the latter,
a spacious and commodious building, contains a governor's
house, infirmary, and schools, eight day-rooms,
seven airing-yards, in some of which are tread-mills, and
one hundred and fifty separate cells, for the classifica-
tion, employment, and instruction of the prisoners.
Knutsford, with its several townships, was formerly
included in the parish of Rostherne, from which it was
severed by act of parliament, in 1714, and formed into a
separate parish. The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry
and diocese of Chester, endowed with £16 per
annum private benefaction, and £400 royal bounty, and
in the alternate patronage, according to the following
order, of the Lords of the Manors of Over Knutsford,
Nether Knutsford, Ollerton,Toft, andBexton. The church,
erected in 1744, and dedicated to St. John the Baptist,
is a neat edifice of brick, with a stone tower. There are
places of worship for Independents, Wesleyan Methodists,
and Unitarians. The free grammar school was
founded and endowed with sixteen marks per annum, in
the reign of Edward VI., by an ancestor of the family
of Peter Leigh, Esq., of Over Knutsford, who appoints
the master and nominates the scholars, with the exception
of three, who, under a special endowment, are appointed
by the vicar. A parochial school has lately been
established, in which seventy boys are taught reading,
writing, and arithmetic; and a school, in which one hundred
girls are instructed in reading and needlework, is
supported by Mrs. Egerton of Tatton. There are also
various charitable bequests for distribution among the
poor, the proceeds of which, about £100 per annum,
are divided by the vicar, churchwardens and overseers
of the parish.