Knapton Remembered

Welcome to Knapton History Group's website, which we've called Knapton Remembered.

Over the last thirty years or so the Knapton's History Group, in its various guises, has evolved into what it is today and this website is being designed to reflect what has been discovered, collected, documented and recorded and to make it available 24/7 to as wide an audience as possible.

It is, and will be for some time, under construction as there is are an enormous number of records, photo and data files of all types to share, but we will make every effort to make the records live and available on this site as soon as we can.

If you are looking for specific information or records please get in touch with us as it may be some time before we get to what you're looking for. The same goes for genealogists, although we already have some records hosted.

The Knapton History Group is interested in all aspects of the history and the people of this parish, both ancient and modern, linking generations across our community through collecting, preserving & sharing information and memories about our history and heritage.

We are always keen to talk to anyone who would like to share their own memories or experiences, photographs or maps, or family history from Knapton's rich and colourful past so please do contact us if you'd like to contribute to our archives so they are remembered and not consigned to the annals of history.

We're happy to try and help with any enquiries by searching through our archives, which include St Peter & St Paul's BDM (Births, Death & Marriage) records.

The original history club was formed over twenty years ago by a few village residents who shared a passion to explore our village's history and the people that lived here. When the founder died, it was taken over by our then village historian who did wonderful work developing the group and the building the archive until she moved away several years ago, and the group disbanded.

Fortunately its members never lost their passion and at a meeting In 2023, convened by the then Chair of the Parish Council to explore the possibilities of re-convening the group, they all agreed unanimously to start afresh, with the Rt Hon Baroness Gillian Shephard (who was born in Knapton) agreeing to be the groups patron and Georgina Neatherway agreeing to take over the reins and co-ordinate the group.

Today, the Knapton History Group is bigger, stronger and more active than ever, even attracting the interest of local newspapers reporting on their recent Women's Day event in Knapton's St Peter & St Paul's church..

The group's archive is already substantial and includes documents, photographs and artefacts that date back hundreds of years. As well as continuing to add to them, the group is now also adding memories from local residents, "voices from the past" recordings of past interviews and local songs to it.

We give a special thanks to Alison Glaze who was our resident historian for many years and did a huge amount of work building the archives and documenting various aspects of our village / parish history.

The Group aims to continue adding and recording historical records to the parish archive and make their discoveries known to all those interested in Knapton's past by embracing technology to share what they find with anyone who is interested in Knapton's rich history.

As a group we actively seek and pursue Knapton records that are of historical interest to add to our archives.

We create theme-based displays and presentations for village events and occasionally our own events during the year, where we are able to share our research and findings with the village residents and interested visitors.
We also celebrate special events with tailored displays.

If you, or anyone you know, has any photographs, documents or artefacts relating to the people, places or events of Knapton's past, we would love to hear from you.

These can be donated to the collection, or loaned for scanning, or we can visit or meet you to scan them. The collection will be securely housed and stored and we aim to make a photo gallery available to view as we develop this website.

In addition we should like to collect voices from the past, the memories of those who grew up in the village, and share them in a mobile audio/visual presentation at our exhibitions to bring the past back to life. Again we can meet you or visit you to interview you for your story. This can also then be put on this website.

Of course, our ambitious plans require funds to...

• print the photographs for display
• purchase the materials necessary to safely store and archive documents, maps and artifacts
• purchase the advertising posters and printed handouts

So, through the generosity of members and others, we endeavour to raise funds at these exhibitions by offering tea, coffee and cakes, Tombola and books (new and pre-owned). We also accept donations.

We are also actively seeking sponsorship so that we can spread our wings and dive deeper into our rich history.

If you share our enthusiasm for our parish and want to know more about the people, places and events that have made it what it is today, then yes! So why not come along to our next meeting and see what goes on. We always offer a warm welcome to visitors and new members so please, feel free to come along and join us.

We usually meet on the first Friday morning of every month, for a couple of hours. It's at these friendly, informal meetings over coffee and biscuits that we announce new findings, share thoughts and ideas for current and future projects and plan for our up-coming events.

And then maybe you'd like to be part of something good and help us to discover and preserve precious memories of the past for future generations to enjoy.