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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.

West Knoyle
Telephone box, West Knoyle
West Knoyle Location within Wiltshire
Population	146 (in 2011)[1]
OS grid reference	ST858325
Civil parish	West Knoyle
Unitary authority	Wiltshire
Ceremonial county	Wiltshire
Region	South West
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Warminster
Postcode district	BA12
Dialling code	01747
Police	Wiltshire
Fire	Dorset and Wiltshire
Ambulance	South Western
UK Parliament	South West Wiltshire
Website	West Knoyle
List of places UK England Wiltshire 51.092°N 2.204°W / 51.092; -2.204

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

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

External links

• "West Knoyle village site". Retrieved 17 June 2015.

Media related to West Knoyle at Wikimedia Commons

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