For Heritage Open Days, 2023, local historians from Knowle Society, accompanied by poet Jonny Fluffypunk and supported by library staff, led a guided walk around the historic centre of the village. Jonny then created a poem based on the history discussed during the walk and afterwards at Knowle Library.
On the walk, we heard that:
- Originally, Knowle’s residents had to walk three miles to attend church in Hampton-in-Arden as Knowle was not then a separate parish. Crossing the unbridged River Blythe was dangerous, especially in winter;
- In 1396 local landowners’ son, Walter Cook, used his influence to obtain a faculty from Pope Boniface IX to build a church on land belonging to his family in Knowle;
- Walter Cook was granted a licence in 1412 by Henry IV to found a guild and fraternity of priests in honour of God and St Anne. As well as a religious society, it also provided funds for those who needed help and an income to pay for a priest for the chapel.
- There were no gas lamps between the Wilson Arms and Solihull, leading to ghost stories and tales of highway robbery and murder;
- The Greswolde Arms was previously called the Mermaid Inn. The Lord of the Manor, Henry Greswolde Lewis of Malvern Hall, Solihull, commissioned John Constable to paint a pub sign for the Mermaid although it seems that Henry Greswolde Lewis died before the sign was completed;
- The Berrow Homes provide sheltered homes for those in need from Knowle. They were founded by Sarah Letitia Berrow in memory of her parents, William and Mary Berrow. The first four were built on the site of the old bowling green in 1886;
- Milverton House is a 16th-century building on the site of a much earlier house which was traditionally the childhood home of Walter Cook, founder of the church and Guild House in the 15th century.
- The White Swan Inn was built in the early 15th century but was demolished in 1939;
- The Red Lion Inn was built in the early 17th century and it was in the yard of the inn that John Wesley preached in 1749, finding that Knowle folk were ungodly and much given to drunkenness;
- In 1936, an open-air swimming pool opened at the Greswolde Arms and was very popular on summer evenings. It closed in the mid-1960s;
- Greville Court was opened in 1998 and named after the family who have been Earls of Warwick since 1759 and who were Lords of the Manor of Knowle 1623-1743;
- Chester House is the oldest building on Knowle High Street, dating in part from around 1400.
Many thanks to Visit Knowle for requesting the poem and facilitating the event, and to Knowle Society’s Local History team for leading the walk.
Tracey
Library Specialist: Heritage & Local Studies
email: heritage@solihull.gov.uk
Solihull Life 
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