England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Knoyle St Mary

The Parish

The parish of West Knoyle lies in the extreme southwest of Wiltshire close to borders with both Dorset & Somerset and sitting roughly 5 miles northeast of the Dorset town of Gillingham. West Knoyle is located just under 1 mile south of the busy A303 road which connects London all the way through to Exeter and takes much heavy traffic. West Knoyle is a small place, a single lane running from northeast to southwest, The Street, with properties loosely aggregated along its course., the whole sits high amongst chalk downs. West Knoyle was, and still largely is, a farming community, early gazetteers estimate that its regime was roughly 2 parts arable to 1 part pastoral, the pastoral element has almost totally disappeared in modern times due to fertilisers and machinery. West Knoyle is drained southwestwards by a number of intermittent streams that merge to become the River Lodden which meets the Dorset Stour immediately south of Gillingham, from here water heads south and then southeast to eventually meet the English Channel through Christchurch Harbour. West Knoyle sits high in the chalk hills of the county on a rising site, the southwestern-most properties stand at around 130 metres with those by the church some 25 metres higher, land continues rising to the A303 and the tumuli bedecked summits at around 220 metres. West Knoyle parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering around 1,900 acres it would have supported a population of close to 200 parishioners. In Domesday times West Knoyle was an equally modest holding of Wilton Abbey offering merely 5 ploughs as well as the usual meadows, woodland & pastures.

The Church

St Mary's church sits on the western side of The Street towards the northeastern end of the village. The church consists of two distinct ages, the medieval of the main body of the church having been largely rebuilt during 19th century changes. Some of the medieval was retained by those changes, the chancel still shows lancet styled windows indicative of an Early English Gothic origin albeit little of the 13th century remains. The nave and western tower were clearly replaced during the great church-building era of the Perpendicular, in this case from the later part e.g. the 15th century. Whilst the nave was also extensively rebuilt like the chancel, it retains a doorway and windows on the northern face from the original medieval. The western tower complete with battlements, pinnacles and (sometime obscene) gargoyles was untouched, or lightly touched, and remains essentially 15th century Perpendicular. The great change of Victorian times fell in the late 1870s and was extensive. The Street performs a right-angles turn around the churchyard and, if approaching from the south, has a grassy area with gravel tracks across it where a car ot two may safely get off-road. The churchyard is open and uncluttered with no obstacles for the photographer.