 For details of construction and operation see Knight reservoir.The last noble owner was John, Duke of Montagu, from 1709 until 1749 who died without surviving male issue in that year.Either the son or the grandson of late 18th-century landowner Jeremiah Hodges, Colonel Hodges sold the manor in 1802 to Edmund Hill who finally bequeathed it on his death to John Hamborough, after whose death it was sold by the trustees of his estate to Richard Sharpe.