 Church Knowle is a parish in the Isle of Purbeck and is four miles S.E. of Wareham and about a mile west of Corfe Castle. In 1898 the acreage was 2,920 with various soil and overlying chalk. The Saxons named the village 'cnolle' which signifies a top of a hill and in the Domesday Book the village was called Glole. The 13th century church of St Peter which has been partly rebuilt is in the early English style and consists of a nave and chancel and a square unbuttressed tower. It has stone walls, a stone slate roof with coped gables and the tower which was rebuilt in 1740 using the old stones has a trinity of bells. The population in 1891 was 581. In 1991 it was 329. Listen to the bells of St Peter and read the history of the church displayed for the public by the church. |
 Photo displayed with the kind permission of Michael Day |
