West Knighton, Dorset
Historical Description
Knighton, West, a parish in Dorsetshire, 4 miles SE of Dorchester station on the L. & S.W.R. It includes the hamlets of Fryer Mayne, Little Mayne, and Lewell. Post town, Dorchester. Acreage, 2216; population of the civil parish, 321; of the ecclesiastical, 805. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Broad Mayne, in the diocese of Salisbury; gross value,, £430 with residence. The church is small and ancient. It was restored in 1894 by the munificence of Dr F. Bisset Hawkins.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Dorsetshire | |
Diocese | Bristol | 1542 - 1836 |
Diocese | Salisbury | 1836 - |
Ecclesiastical parish | West Knighton St. Peter | |
Hundred | Culliford Tree | |
Poor Law union | Dorchester | 1836 - |
Registration district | Dorchester | |
Registration sub-district | Puddletown |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1693. The original register books are now deposited with the Dorset Archives Service, but have been digitised by Ancestry.co.uk and made available on their site (subscription required).
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter (parish church)
The parish church of St. Peter is a small but ancient edifice of stone, in the Gothic style, and consists of nave, south transept, north porch and a small western tower, containing one bell, bearing the motto "Praise the Lord, 1603": there are 180 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
West Knighton was in Dorchester Registration District from 1837 to 1949 and Weymouth Registration District from 1949 to 1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for West Knighton from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Knighton, West (St. Peter))
- Hunt & Co.'s Directory of Dorsetshire, Hampshire, & Wiltshire 1851
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Dorset is available to browse.
Maps
Online maps of West Knighton are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the Dorset County Chronicle and the Sherborne Mercury online.
Villages, Hamlets, &c
Fryer MayneLittle Mayne
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Dorset, 1623 is available on the Heraldry page.