page_title: John Knight (Exmoor pioneer)
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: John Knight (Exmoor pioneer) / Origins
caption_attribution_description: Lea Castle, Wolverley, Worcestershire
context_page_description: John Knight of Lea Castle, Wolverley, of 52 Portland Place in London, and of Simonsbath House, Exmoor, Somerset, was an agricultural pioneer who commenced the reclamation of the barren moorland of the former royal forest of Exmoor in Devon and Somerset, England.
context_section_description: John II Knight (1765-1850) was the son of the ironmaster John I Knight (d.1795) of Lea Castle, the son of Edward Knight (d.1780), 3rd son of Richard Knight (1659-1745) of Downton, a wealthy ironmaster and founder of the family's fortune, proprietor of Bringewood Ironworks. John II Knight's younger brother was the mathematician Thomas Knight (1775-1853) of The Mount, Papcastle, Cumbria, against whom he brought the celebrated 1840 law suit Knight v Knight, concerning the inheritance of their cousin Payne Knight (1750-1824), MP, of Downton Castle.
caption: Lea Castle, Wolverley, postcard photograph c. 1900. Built after 1809 by John Knight I, ironmaster. Sold by his son John Knight II (1765-1850) in about 1818[4] to finance his purchase of Exmoor Forest. Demolished 1945 with the exception of the gatehouse which still stands. A series of watercolours c. 1816 of the interiors of Lea Castle attributed to the painter John Carter (1748-1817) is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Elisha Whittelsey Collection, no. 56.601(4)[5]
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