Knapwell and its History

Knapwell is a small village several miles west of Cambridge. It is near the growing town of Cambourne and the smaller villages of Boxworth, Elsworth and Childerley. The old North Road originally built by the Romans to link London and York runs to the West.

Knapwell was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 as having approximately 500 acres of land and what is thought to be about 200 residents, remarkably a total that has stayed constant through the last thousand years. The area was first settled by Anglo Saxons sometime during Sub-Roman Britain, a turbulent period in English history that occurred when the Romans departed after the fall of Rome, also sometimes known as one of the Dark Ages. The first settlers would have cleared the native woodland to enable the area to be farmed.

The actual entry in the Domesday Book refers to Knapwell as being owned by Ramsey Abbey; "There are 5 hides here. There is land for 8 ploughs. There are 1 and a half hides in demesne, and there are 2 ploughs here. There are 8 villeins and 4 sokemen having 1 and a half hides, and 4 cottars and 4 serfs. There is wood for the fences and meadow for 2 ploughs. In all it is worth £6."

Ramsey Abbey was one of the country's major land owners as were many Monasteries of the time. Knapwell was bequeathed to Ramsey Abbey by its previous owner Bishop Aednoth of Dorchester in 1049. The land would have then been leased to lay tenants until the 1530's when Henry VIII carried out the dissolution of the Monasteries. During this period Monasteries were dismantled and stripped of their assets. Knapwell would have been sold off at this time.

Bringing us to the present day is Grange Farm that borders Knapwell, an area of special interest that is on the cutting edge of modern day conservation farming. It is a 450 acre farm owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and is run by a local farmer in conjunction with RSPB scientists and local volunteers. The goal of the farm is to develop sustainable methods of farming that support and conserve wildlife. The farm plants autumn sown crops that rotate over a three year period and utilise wheat, wheat again and then oilseed rape. Autumn sown crops have become more widespread than spring sown because of greater profitability, but they provide a less suitable habitat for breeding birds and so the RSPB is working on ways to help breeding birds in autumn sown environments. The first four years of the project saw a healthy rise in bird numbers, for example the amounts of Linnets and Reed Buntings doubled. Grange Farm does not cater for visitors and because of this it is renamed Hope Farm to deter people from easily finding it.