West Knoyle
Telephone box, West Knoyle
West Knoyle is located in Wiltshire
West Knoyle
West Knoyle
Location within Wiltshire
Population146 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid referenceST858325
Civil parish
  • West Knoyle
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWarminster
Postcode districtBA12
Dialling code01747
PoliceWiltshire
FireDorset and Wiltshire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
WebsiteParish Council

West Knoyle is a small village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, close to the southern edge of Salisbury Plain. The village is about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Mere and 8 miles (13 km) south of Warminster. The A303 trunk road passes about 0.75 miles (1,210 m) north of the village.

History

A prehistoric bowl barrow, 8 m in diameter, lies on high ground northeast of the village.[2] A Romano-British pavement was found at Willoughby Hedge during widening of the A303.[3] The Domesday Book recorded 23 households at Chenvel in 1086, and land owned by Wilton Abbey.[4]

Wilton Abbey held the manor until the dissolution; later landowners include Christopher Willoughby (c.1508–1570), a Member of Parliament.[5]

Past names for the parish include Knoyle Hodierne or Odierne – after Hodierna of St Albans, wet nurse of Richard I of England, who had an estate at Chippenham[6] – and Little Knoyle.[7]

Manor Farmhouse, with 16th-century origins and altered in the 17th and 19th, may have material and fittings from the manor house which stood north of the church and was demolished in 1745.[8]

Parish church

St Mary's Church

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin, in the north of the present village, is a Grade II* listed building. It has 13th-century origins but was heavily restored in 1876–78, except for the 15th-century west tower.[9]

Four of the five bells are from the 17th century; they are said to be unringable and out of tune.[10]

The parish was a chapelry of North Newnton, over twenty miles to the northeast (another holding of Wilton Abbey),[11] until the two parishes were separated in 1841.[7] The benefice was united with Mere in 1929, and a curate was appointed to live at West Knoyle;[12] in 1976 Maiden Bradley was added to the united benefice, which continues today.[13][14]

Amenities

The Victorian former school is used as the village hall.[15]

The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath passes through the village. Hang Wood, to the southeast, is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest.

References

  1. ↑ "Wiltshire Community History – Census". Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Bowl barrow 600m east of Manor Farm (1004756)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  3. ↑ "Pavement, Willoughby Hedge". Wiltshire and Swindon Historic Environment Record. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  4. ↑ West Knoyle in the Domesday Book
  5. ↑ "Willoughby, Christopher (by 1508-70), of West Knoyle, Wilts". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  6. ↑ Chronica magistri Rogeri de Houedene. Rolls Series. William Stubbs (ed.). London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. 1869. p. xviii.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. 1 2 "No. 20021". The London Gazette. 24 September 1841. pp. 2369–2370.
  8. ↑ Historic England. "Manor Farmhouse (1318477)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  9. ↑ Historic England. "Church of St Mary the Virgin (1199597)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  10. ↑ "West Knoyle". Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers. Retrieved 23 September 2020.
  11. ↑ Baggs, A.P.; Crowley, D.A.; Pugh, Ralph B.; Stevenson, Janet H.; Tomlinson, Margaret (1975). Crittall, Elizabeth (ed.). "Victoria County History: Wiltshire: Vol 10 pp126-136 – Parishes: North Newnton". British History Online. University of London. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  12. ↑ "No. 33507". The London Gazette. 18 June 1929. pp. 4022–4024.
  13. ↑ "No. 46878". The London Gazette. 20 April 1976. p. 5681.
  14. ↑ "West Knoyle: St Mary the Virgin". A Church Near You. Church of England. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  15. ↑ "The Village Hall". westknoyle.org. Retrieved 14 November 2020.

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