English Place-name Society

Survey of English Place-Names

A county-by-county guide to the linguistic origins of England’s place-names – a project of the English Place-Name Society, founded 1923.

Knowstone

Major Settlement in the Parish of Knowstone

Historical Forms

  • Chenutdestana, Chenuestan 1086 DB
  • Cnutstan 1220 FF 1238 Ass
  • Cnuston' 1242 Fees793
  • Cnouston 1276 Ipm
  • Knouston Beaupel 1285 FA
  • Cnudstone 1243 Exon
  • Cnodston 1279 Exon
  • Knotstone 1318 Ch
  • Knoudestone 1360 Exon
  • Botreaux Molland otherwise…Knowston 1489 Ipm

Etymology

'Cnut 's stone,' Cnut being a Scand  pers. name more familiar in the form Canute , cf. Knuston (Nth), Cnutestone DB, Cnoteston 1220 Fees. The 'stone' may have been at the place called Rock (6″) just east of the village. The subsoil in the parish is rock (Kelly). Robert Beaupel (i.e. 'fine skin') held the manor in 1276 (Ipm) and the family name is preserved in Beaple's Barton, Wood, Moor, Hill and Combe.