A Dorset 'lost' village
There are quite a few 'lost' villages in Dorset. Knowlton is marked by the church still standing whilst there are no really old houses nearby. However, aerial photography has revealed that the settlement used to be a couple of hundred metres away down along the River. It is out of sight behind and below the far earth embankment.
An earth embankment around the church I hear you say?? Made of chalk rubble, it is more clearly seen in the photo below and encircles the church and is most unusual. I have seen plenty of ancient banks and ditches and plenty of very old churches. However, i don't think I've ever seen the two together before.
It seems that it is a very ancient feature, pre-dating the church itself which is usually described as 'Norman' and dating from 12th century. However, at least one of the windows is Anglo-Saxon in shape (around 400 - 1000 AD) so maybe the Normans added to an existing structure? The surrounding 'henge' is Neolithic and roughly dates from 2000 - 3000BC. There seems little doubt that the Christian church will have visibly symbolised moving from paganism to Christianity. Nobody is quite sure what the henge was for but in this instance it seems very unlikely to have been defensive. One suggestion is that is where Druids will have gathered for ceremonies.
A Dorset 'lost' village
There are quite a few 'lost' villages in Dorset. Knowlton is marked by the church still standing whilst there are no really old houses nearby. However, aerial photography has revealed that the settlement used to be a couple of hundred metres away down along the River. It is out of sight behind and below the far earth embankment.
An earth embankment around the church I hear you say?? Made of chalk rubble, it is more clearly seen in the photo below and encircles the church and is most unusual. I have seen plenty of ancient banks and ditches and plenty of very old churches. However, i don't think I've ever seen the two together before.
It seems that it is a very ancient feature, pre-dating the church itself which is usually described as 'Norman' and dating from 12th century. However, at least one of the windows is Anglo-Saxon in shape (around 400 - 1000 AD) so maybe the Normans added to an existing structure? The surrounding 'henge' is Neolithic and roughly dates from 2000 - 3000BC. There seems little doubt that the Christian church will have visibly symbolised moving from paganism to Christianity. Nobody is quite sure what the henge was for but in this instance it seems very unlikely to have been defensive. One suggestion is that is where Druids will have gathered for ceremonies.