Knowle nr. Birmingham

No entry found for this Knowle in the Domesday survey. Cox & Harvey (1907) report a noteworthy baptismal font of the Decorated period here. The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 4, 1947) notes: "When Sir William de Arden made over to the Priory of Kenilworth in about 1220 his rights in the church of Hampton the canons agreed that he and his heirs might have divine service in their chapel of Knowle, [...] and this manorial chapel is referred to in 1381 as the oratory of the Abbot of Westminster. [...] But Knowle remained part of the parish of Hampton until in 1396 Canon Walter Cook, a member of a local family and a wealthy pluralist, [...] obtained licence from Pope Boniface IX to build on his parents' land a chapel, with belfry, bell, font, and churchyard, on the ground that it was difficult for the inhabitants of Knowle to reach the church of Hampton in bad weather. [...] The chapel was consecrated in 1402 [...] The building dates from not earlier than 1396 [...] The font, of the 15th century, is octagonal with moulded lower edges to the bowl, plain stem, and moulded base; the sides of the bowl have quatrefoiled square panels and cement repairs where the former staples existed."