Knockin is a village in NW Shropshire, close to the Welsh border ans 5 miles S of Oswestry. The church, in the centre of the village, is single-aisled, but had a N aisle in the 12thc, destroyed by a fire in 1767. . The blocked arcade now forms the N wall of the nave. The chancel is 12thc., enlarged between 1900 and 1910. There is no tower but a 17thc bell-cote of yellow brick. The church was restored and enlarged in 1846-47, when a S transept was added with a W porch. Romanesque features described here are the chancel S doorway, the N nave arcade and the font.

Knockin is not mentioned by name in the Domesday Survey, but a castle was built here in c.1160. The village is likely to be a "planted" settlement, dating to the mid 12th century, carved out of the Saxon manor of Osbaston (held by Reginald from Roger Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury in 1086). According to Shropshire HER the church was built between 1182 and 1195 by Ralph L'Estrange to serve as a chapel for Knockin Castle. Jonas is the first documented incumbent (1195). Knockin, along with other Shropshire parishes, was transferred from the diocese of St Asaph to Lichfield in 1920.

The arcade dates from c.1200, while the S chancel doorway and the font are likely to be slightly earlier. In the nave arcade the decoration of the capital of pier 3 is reminiscent of one of the capitals in the nave at Shawbury. The Priest's Doorway is very similar to that at Lydbury North.