It situated between Clarendon Park to the north, Stoneygate to the east, Oadby and Wigston to the south and the Saffron Lane estate to the west.

Originally a separate village a couple of miles from Leicester city centre, it became linked to it by the areas known as Stoneygate and Clarendon Park during the Victorian period, due to the demand for housing for those newly employed in industry.

Knighton was named in the Domesday Book of 1086[7] (where it is spelled Cnihetone, and gives a picture of a fairly large village of 24 households and substantial farmlands, all under the manorial lordship of the Bishop of Lincoln, who at that time was a Norman cleric named Remigius de Fécamp.

Although Knighton Church dates back to at least the 13th century, it was served by a curate, and did not have its own vicar until it was made a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1878.

These fields were enclosed in 1756 and divided up permanently between the 14 families that had rights to the land, giving a snapshot of the spread of wealth in the village.

[5] Knighton retained its agricultural character into the 19th century, whilst Leicester to the north and Wigston to the south were becoming centres of the framework knitting cottage industry.

[5] From 1865 the side roads began to be opened up, developed by speculative builders, and a more rapid expansion and infilling got underway.

The density of housing was greater than in Stoneygate, and many streets were laid out with rows of brick terraces, and acquired the name Clarendon Park, apparently as a marketing device.

From Safron lane in the west, it was roughly 2.8 miles (4.5 km) wide, extending to the Gartree Road in the east.

[13] The various compartments and zones within the Park still reflect many of the divisions of the land put in place in 1756 for agricultural improvements when the Knighton open fields were enclosed and subdivided for the first time.

[13] Knighton Spinney is a small area of woodland on the north-east side of the Park, 2.9 hectares (7.2 acres) in extent, that was declared a Local Nature Reserve in 2003.

Stained glass windows along the nave of the church include references to key elements of the Roman Catholic faith, with symbolic representations of Christ's ministry and a number of the sacraments.