West Knighton
| West Knighton | |
| Dorset | |
|---|---|
 West Knighton | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SY733875 |
| Location: | 50°41’16"N, 2°22’49"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 375 (2011) |
| Post town: | Dorchester |
| Postcode: | DT2 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Dorset |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
West Dorset |
West Knighton is a village in Dorset, sitting three miles south-east of the county town, Dorchester. It has an 11th-century church and a village pub. The 2011 census recorded the the civil parish with a population of 375.
The village name derives from the Old English cniht tun, meaning the village or farmstead of the young men or retainers.[1] At Little Mayne Farm, half a mile south-west of the village, is the site of a deserted mediæval village, which is recorded in the Domesday Book as 'Maine'[2]
West Knighton parish historically developed out of the amalgamation of four mediæval settlements within the ancient hundred of Cullifordtree: the existing main village, the previously mentioned 'Parva Maene', another mediæval settlement at 'Friarmayne' to the south—also deserted and now within neighbouring Broadmayne civil parish[3]—and the fourth at 'Lewell' to the north, which is now just a farmhouse.[4]
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about West Knighton) |
References
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David: 'A Dictionary of British Place-Names' (Oxford University Press, 2003) ISBN 978-0-19-852758-9
- ↑ West Knighton in the Domesday Book
- ↑ Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 map
- ↑ 'Knighton, West': An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 2: South East (1970), pp. 135-140