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West Knoyle
West Knoyle is a small village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, close to the southern edge of Salisbury Plain. The village is about 2.5 miles (4 km) east of Mere and 8 miles (13 km) south of Warminster. The A303 trunk road passes about 0.75 miles (1,210 m) north of the village. HistoryA prehistoric bowl barrow, 8 m in diameter, lies on high ground northeast of the village.[2] A Romano-British pavement was found at Willoughby Hedge during widening of the A303.[3] The Domesday Book recorded 23 households at Chenvel in 1086, and land owned by Wilton Abbey.[4] Wilton Abbey held the manor until the dissolution; later landowners include Christopher Willoughby (c.1508–1570), a Member of Parliament.[5] Past names for the parish include Knoyle Hodierne or Odierne – after Hodierna of St Albans, wet nurse of Richard I of England, who had an estate at Chippenham[6] – and Little Knoyle.[7] Manor Farmhouse, with 16th-century origins and altered in the 17th and 19th, may have material and fittings from the manor house which stood north of the church and was demolished in 1745.[8] Parish church The parish church of St Mary the Virgin, in the north of the present village, is a Grade II* listed building. It has 13th-century origins but was heavily restored in 1876–78, except for the 15th-century west tower.[9] Four of the five bells are from the 17th century; they are said to be unringable and out of tune.[10] The parish was a chapelry of North Newnton, over twenty miles to the northeast (another holding of Wilton Abbey),[11] until the two parishes were separated in 1841.[7] The benefice was united with Mere in 1929, and a curate was appointed to live at West Knoyle;[12] in 1976 Maiden Bradley was added to the united benefice, which continues today.[13][14] AmenitiesThe Victorian former school is used as the village hall.[15] The Monarch's Way long-distance footpath passes through the village. Hang Wood, to the southeast, is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. References
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