Knowlton Church

Knowlton Church

Knowlton Church Hampshire UK Woodlands, East Dorset District, United Kingdom Knowlton Church The ruin of a 14th Century church in the centre of a pagan earth circle, built in the Bronze Age, makes Knowlton unique. It is located about 2 miles south of Cranborne and 6 miles north of Wimborne, Knowlton was once a thriving village and the capital of a Saxon Hundred. Today it can scarcely be called a hamlet in the parish of Woodlands. Its name simply means a tun by a knoll.Knowlton is part of the ancient complex of Knowlton Rings, which consisting of 4 earthworks: the North Circle, Church Circle, Southern Circle, and the 'Old Churchyard'. In addition to these sites, to the east of the Church Circle is the Great Barrow, the largest round barrow in Dorset. Within a one mile radius of these earthworks there are also a large number of barrows and ring-ditches.This Norman church, which was built in the 12th century, is situated at the centre of a Neolithic ritual henge earthwork. The pairing of the henge and the church symbolises the transition from pagan to Christian worship, and is an unusual combination of a church within a Neolithic Henge.The church is built of stone and flint, and the line of the roof remains clearly visible on its eastern face.The location of the Church within the central henge at Knowlton is clear evidence of the "Christianisation" of older pagan sites. This "Christianisation" was widespread in the British Isles from the time the earliest Papal missionaries arrived. In an attempt to "convert" the local populace many sacred sites were "adapted" as well as centuries old customs. www.knowlton-family.co.uk

Simon Taplin