1898 Introduction
KNOTTING is a village and parish, on the borders of Northamptonshire, 3 miles north from Sharnbrook station on the main line of the Midland railway, 10 north from Bedford, 8 south-west from Kimbolton and 4½ south-south-east from Higham Ferrers, in the Northern division of the county, hundred of Stodden, Sharnbrook petty sessional division, union and county court district of Bedford, rural deanery of Felmersham, archdeaconry of Bedford and diocese of Ely. The church of St. Margaret is a small edifice of stone in the Norman and Early English styles, with Decorated insertions, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch, chapel and. a small western tower containing a clock and one bell: the chancel arch is Norman, with zigzag mouldings: on the parapet of the tower is the date 1615, and a roof beam of the nave is dated 1669: there are about 70 sittings. The register dates from about the year 1592. The living is a rectory, consolidated with that of Souldrop, joint yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of Herbert R. Magniac J.P., D.L. and held since 1896 by the Rev. Francis Edward Millard Girling M.A. of Clare College, Cambridge, who resides at Souldrop. Here is a Weslevan Methosidt chapel. S. Whitbread esq. of Southill Park, Biggleswade is lord of the manor and chief landowner. The soil is black loam; subsoil, clay. The chief crops are wheat, barley, beans and peas. The area is 1,739 acres; rateable value, £1,332; the population in 1891 was 161.

Parish Clerk, Joseph Hodby.

Letters through Bedford, via Sharnbrook, arrive at 8.30 a.m.

Wall Letter Box cleared at 6.10 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Sharnbrook, 2 miles distant.

National School (mixed), erected by the Duke of Bedford in 1858, for 46 children; average attendance, 25; Mrs. Louisa Leverton, mistress.