Knighton (Welsh: Tref-y-clawdd [trɛvəˈklauð] ⓘ or Trefyclo) is a market town and community on the River Teme, straddling the border between Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England.

Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement, Knighton is located on Offa's Dyke, the ancient earthwork that divided the two countries.

The name Knighton probably derives from the Old English cniht (a soldier, thane or freeman) and tūn (farm, settlement or homestead), and may have been founded through a grant of land to freemen.

[7] The parallel Wat's Dyke a few miles to the east, runs north and south along the English/Welsh border from Basingwerk near Holywell to Oswestry.

[8] Dykes aside, two Norman castles, earthen mottes, likely to be from 12th and 13th centuries, are the oldest surviving structures in modern Knighton.

Bryn y Castell, as the one surviving castle in Knighton by then, was besieged by Owain Glyndŵr in 1402 and destroyed along with much of the town.

[11] The major battle of the rebellion was fought in the same year at Pilleth (Welsh: Bryn Glas) 3 miles (5 km), south of the town.

[10] This English dedication is a symptom of the dual English/Welsh nature of the town, which was not legally resolved until 1535, when Knighton was finally confirmed as part of Wales by the Acts of Union.

Knighton first prospered as a centre of the wool trade in the 15th century[14] and was later an important point on the two drover routes from Montgomery to Hereford, and from London to Aberystwyth.

Construction of a railway was made economically just viable by an entrepreneurial drive to connect the Mumbles and Milford Haven with the cities and factories of the industrial Midlands.

[15] The Knighton Railway Company was formed by local landowners and businessmen to build a line from Craven Arms to the town.

[17] To mark the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, the initials "ER" were planted in deciduous trees in an evergreen forest on a hill to the north of the town.

The compères were radio DJ Pete Drummond and local resident and bluesman Alexis Korner, who also performed.

[23] Since May 2021, Knighton has joined with Beguildy to return 2 County Councillors, and it has been represented by the Independent Ange Williams and Liberal Democrat Corinna Kenyon-Wade.

[37] The town includes visible remains of two early castle mottes, one at Bryn-y-Castell and the other hidden behind the fire station and in a private garden.

[39][40] On the last Saturday in August the town normally holds an annual Carnival and Show, which attracts visitors from around the world,[41] though it did not take place in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Just outside Knighton and visible for many miles is an observatory with a telescope, Europe's largest camera obscura, and a planetarium.

[42] Knighton Community Centre is the town's largest venue for discos, performances, wrestling, bands, artists, and local clubs and organisations.

Gone to Earth, released in 1950 and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, used the nearby location of Pentre, New Invention.

[50] The actor Richard Thorp, famous as the tubby former publican Alan Turner in Emmerdale, lived at Skyborry.

In its most recent Estyn inspection it was graded Good or Satisfactory, the inspectors being largely positive, but critical of "low expectations".

[76] For the smaller part of Knighton that lies in Shropshire, the unitary authority administrative centre, and county town of Shrewsbury is 34 miles (55 km) away.

Knighton is at 52°20′40″N 3°03′0″W / 52.34444°N 3.05000°W / 52.34444; -3.05000, in a sparsely populated tract of mid-Wales and the English border marked by a hilly plateau cut by narrow river valleys with a broadly east–west axis.

According to Samuel Lewis (a mid 19th-century visitor): ... at the head of a deep vale sheltered on all sides by hills of lofty elevation, crowned with timber of luxuriant growth, and commanding extensive and finely varied prospects over the surrounding country[77]Knighton rests on Ludlovian rocks of the Silurian Period.

Knighton is in the rain shadow of the Cambrian Mountains, making it slightly warmer and notably drier than the average for Wales.