Church Knowle
| Church Knowle | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 Road through Church Knowle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY939817 |
| Location: | 50°38’9"N, 2°5’12"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 261 |
| Post town: | Wareham |
| Postcode: | BH20 |
| Dialling code: | 01929 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South Dorset |
Church Knowle is a village on the Isle of Purbeck in the south of Dorset. It is found a mile west of Corfe Castle, four miles south of Wareham and six miles west of Swanage. The 2011 census recorded a population in the parish (which includes the settlements of East Creech and Furzebrook to the north) of 261, in 114 households.
The parish church is named St Peter's Church.
Buried in the Churchyard at Church Knowle are the two brothers who brought the first steam locomotive (Primus) to Purbeck in 1866 - The Pike Brothers - John William and William Joseph Pike (Purbeck Ball Clay Merchants). They are buried together with their relatives. John is buried with his mother-in-law Charlotte Bridges Mayer, who was the daughter of William Adams of London and wife of the potter Thomas Mayer. John lived at Westport House in Wareham. William Joseph lived in North Street Wareham. William Joseph's 7-year-old son was drowned in Studland Bay and is buried alongside his father. John and William Joseph's clay merchant father - William lived nearby at Bucknowle House and it was here that the Pike Brothers were born. William Pike's father-in-law was Jacob Warburton who founded the New Hall Pottery in Staffordshire and also leased Bucknowle Farm when he retired to be close to his daughters, Ann and Catherine. Catherine had married local landowner, William Voss.
The churchyard also contains the grave of Warburton Pike, born in the village, a noted explorer of the Canadian Arctic and travel writer, who also published "Translations from Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo and Vittoria Colonna" and went on to produced a noted translation into English of the Inferno from Dante's 'Divine Comedy' in 1881.
Events
Church Knowle Fete is held in the grounds of the Old Rectory every August.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Church Knowle) |
