Knutsfordtown (parish), Macclesfield borough, administrative and
Cheshire East unitary authority, historic county of Cheshire,
England. It is located on the Cheshire Plain southwest of the
city of Manchester. Knutsford received a market, free burgage
(tenure from the crown), and power to elect a mayor from a
charter of 1292, and a charter in 1332 provided for fairs on
certain festival days. The Heath—about 30 acres (12 hectares) of
common land—is still the site of the annual May Day festival.
The principal shopping streets, King Street and Princess Street,
contain buildings of historical and architectural interest. The
19th-century British writer Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell took
Knutsford as the original for her novel Cranford (1853).  The
modern town is predominantly residential, with some industry,
including a paper works, sawmills, and nuclear-energy design
laboratories. The internationally important Manchester Airport
at Ringway is 5 miles (8 km) to the northeast. Pop. (2001)
12,656.