swuklink: Church Knowle Parish Church, <a href="BAAAGBYS.php">Dorset</a>

CHURCH KNOWLE PARISH CHURCHChurch Knowle, Isle of Purbeck, Dorset, England

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Church Knowle, Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire

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Parish Church of St Peter, Church Knowle, Dorset

The Parish Church is dedicated to St Peter.

An invetory of "Church Goods" from 1552 lists;-

Firste Two Chaleses of sylver whereoff one is parcell gilt and thother vngilte beinge boith wourthe by estmacion Vli.
One pix of sylver wourth xxvis viiid. A crosse of brasse
One sewte of vestments of blewe satan embraderyd
A payre of vestments of blewe satan.
A sewte of vestments of rede silke embrawderyd.
A Payre of vestments of red saten embrawderyd.
A cope of rede velvet embrawdred.
A cope of blew saten embrawdred.
Six aulter clothes.
II towelles.
One lent clothe.
One surplesse.
III belles in the Towre.

The Porch. Both doorways have plain pointed arches with chamfered angles. Set in the wall to the right of the inner doorway is a circular hollowed-out stone which was thought by the late Dr Dru drury to have probably been a holy water stoup. It was returned to its original position after being discovered in the left wall in 1956 where it might have been hidden during the Reformation.

The simple Tower, rebuilt in 1741, is roofed in stone, as in the rest of the church. a stone set into the southern face commemorates the rebuilding.

THE BELLS

The Church has had three bells since at least 1552 when three were noted in an inventory of "Church Goods".

THE CLAVELL MONUMENT

Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset
The monument stands against the east wall of the north transept and consists of an altar-tomb fashioned from white purbeck stone, surmounted by a canopy. Beneath the canopy are three compartments. In the centre is a brass depicting a man in armour kneeling in prayer with his gaunlets and helmet laid aside. The inscription below reads 'the figure of John Clavell Esq. husband of these wives.'. He died in 1609 and his arms appear above the figure.

John Clavell of Barnston ordered the elaborate tomb to be made in 1572 - almost forty years before his death.

The brass in the compartment to the left depicts Myllicent (his first wife, the daughter of John Gifford of Ishell) kneeling in prayer with three sons and a daughter behind her. She died in 1571. In the compartment on the right, the brass depicts Susan (his second wife who died in 1618, the daughter of Robert Coker of Mappowder) in the same attitude.

Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset Brass of John Clavell, The Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset Brass of Myllicent Clavell, The Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset Brass of Susan Clavell, The Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset Arms of John Clavell, The Clavell Monument, Parish Church, Church Knowle, Dorset

Some of the Rectors who follow held more than one parish.

1327 Robert Michel
1333 Stephen de Langton
1334 John Renne
1341 Richard le Hulle
1348 Thomas Burchet
1354 Thomas de Skiffard
1394 Galfred Ipplepenny
1395 William Stuteville
1416 Richard Bele
1455 Roger Hooton
1486 William Gobard
1520 Thomas Payne
1538 John Peryn
1546 John Hamme
1572 Stephen Popinjay
1579 James Veroth
1613 Leonard Parry
1628 William Burkett
1635 Valentine Ming
1665 John Newman
1708 Robert Hussey
1712 Nathaniel Templeman
1716 Isaac Chapman Rector for 65 years
1781 Thomas Bond
1781 John Richards Rector for 52 years
1833 James Leonard Jackson made the north aisle to enlarge the church
1841 Charles Onslow
1850 John Mills Cox
1852 Owen Luttrel Mansel restored the chancel
1898 Herbert Langston Wright
1922 Cyril Edwin Kindersley
1926 Henry Lefroy Russell
1936 Robert Henry Farthing
1947 William Outram
1953 John Lewis Jenkins
1959 John Pringle
1966 David Lloyd Evans
1975 John Henson
1978 Gerald Squarey
1991 Maurice Strike

The benefice of Church Knowle is held in plurality with Corfe Castle, Kimmeridge and Steeple-with-Tyneham (see the St Aldhelm Group Ministry).

The Parish Registers date back to 1548. These include the Burial in Woollen records between 1685 and 1789 - an affidavit was necessary for before burial as part of this peculiar measure which was in force for a period of one hundred and twenty years to stimulate the woolen industry.

The Registers are in the care of the Dorset County Archivist at the Public Records Office, Dorchester.