The Knoll
Sherington’s village green or The Knoll is one of the centres of outdoor activity within the village. This triangular-shaped area has seen numerous May Day celebrations, with maypole dancing and sideshows. Parts of the various Sherington Feast days have centred around The Knoll for their daytime activities. The communal village pump is here. Water from this was condemned by the water authority in the 1970s, maybe they couldn’t put a water meter on it.
The famous hatchet was buried here by the Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 1935. The bus stop is situated on the western edge of The Knoll with direct through-routes to London and Rugby, as well as local destinations. The site of Sherington’s only public telephone box is situated next to the Parish Council Notice Board situated on the southeast corner of The Knoll.
To the south of the green is the village garage. Once a typical country garage selling petrol and all the services needed to keep a car on the road, now only offering car repairs and servicing. Founded by Tom Haynes in 1923, it is now in the hands of the third generation of Haynes to own and run the garage. The current building is built on the site of Hines’ wheelwright and coachworks.
The haulage company next door to the garage was founded by Tom Haynes’ father and transports goods all over Europe. The big red-brick garage was built in 1937-38. The Haynes haulage/engineering was founded in the early 1920s. This was added to with the big storage depot was built in the late 1960s. It also houses a small engineering company owned by a relation of the Haynes’ family.
To the north of the Knoll are older residential houses. No 1 The Knoll has an inscription over the front door licensing it to sell … what, we do not know.
No 2 and No 3 The Knoll is a larger three-storey building of similar age. This is an L-shaped property which was once a single dwelling, but has now been split into two.
No 4 The Knoll is a new chalet bungalow. This was built in 1984 (at the same time as Knoll Close). It was designed by John Fielding who at the time lived in No 3 The Knoll in an attempt to show how a new house can be designed to blend with the older properties.
To the east of No 4 The Knoll, lies a development of houses called Knoll Close. Before the Close was built this was the site of the village Sawmill. The Sawmill was owned and operated by the Line family for many years. Next to the Sawmill, on Church Road stood George James Hine’s wheelwrights.
Knoll Close was built in two phases. The first phase included the connection of bungalows that face the road, these were built in the 1970s. The second phase was built between 1983/4 and has a selection of properties with executive houses at the same time as No 4 The Knoll.
In the 1891 census Mr and Mrs Oldham lived in Knoll Cottage, he was down as being a coach builder and she was down as being a baker. The house still contains the baker’s oven. Since that time the property is just purely residential, but two of the older village family names have lived there – firstly the Simco family who continued to bake until the middle of the 20th century, and more latterly the Hickson family lived here.
The Cha
pel on The Knoll is a redundant Wesleyan Chapel. It was deconsecrated in the early 1970s and now has been converted to a private residence. At one time this was one of four places of worship in the village.
The old thatched cottage, 8 The Knoll, is a Grade 2 Listed Building.
Knoll Close and the Sawmill
Knoll Close is a development of properties built between 1983/4, located partly on the site of the Line family woodyard and timber sawmill. The woodyard and sawmill was owned and operated by the Line family for many years until its closure in the late 1970s. The sawmill was powered by a steam engine. Although it was owned by the Line family, it was operated by two brothers Bill and Ben Line. The Line family still reside on The Knoll.
George James Hine’s wheelwrights was situated next to the sawmill, on Church Road.
There is also one old property here linked to The Knoll by a footpath, by the side of No 3 The Knoll.
The construction of the properties in Knoll Close are of bright yellow brickwork. The original planning permission was granted for the houses to have been faced with local stone, so they would look similar to the houses on that side of The Knoll. But with an oversight in the local planning office, permission was given for the houses with the honey-coloured bricks that can been seen today.
No 4 The Knoll. After the planning office had discovered this, to try and make amends, they designed a chalet style house to face The Knoll on a plot that had been purchased by John and Pam Fielding for this purpose. The remit was to design a house that had the same skyline of the existing houses on The Knoll, to use local stone to face the house, and to use a design that would be in keeping with the rest of The Knoll. With these plans approved, the plot was sold to a builder who built this house.
Archive photographs of The Knoll
