Church Knowle is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

on the

Isle of Purbeck The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the no ...

in the county of

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

in the south of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Church Knowle village is situated about west of

Corfe Castle Corfe Castle is a fortification standing above the village of the same name on the Isle of Purbeck peninsula in the English county of Dorset. Built by William the Conqueror, the castle dates to the 11th century and commands a gap in the P ...

, south of Wareham and west of

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civi ...

. In the 2011 census the parish—which includes the settlements of East Creech and

Furzebrook Furzebrook is a small village on the Isle of Purbeck, in the county of Dorset in the south of England. It is about south of Wareham and northwest of Corfe Castle, and is in the civil parish of Church Knowle. The name Furzebrook derives from t ...

to the north—had 114 households and a population of 261. 2010-04-07-Church Knowle, St Peter's Church

2010-04-07-Church Knowle, St Peter's Church inside

The church is named Saint Peter's Church. Church Knowle Fete is held in the grounds of the Old Rectory every August.

Pike family

Buried in the Churchyard at Church Knowle are the two brothers who brought the first steam locomotive (Primus) to Purbeck in 1866 - The Pike Brothers - John William and William Joseph Pike (

Purbeck Ball Clay Purbeck Ball Clay is a concentration of ball clay found on the Isle of Purbeck in the English county of Dorset. Geology The main concentration of ball clay in Dorset is to the north of the Purbeck Hills centred on Norden. Ball clays are sedimenta ...

Merchants). They are buried together with their relatives. John is buried with his mother-in-law Charlotte Bridges Mayer, who was the daughter of William Adams of London and wife of the potter Thomas Mayer. John lived at Westport House in Wareham, now the site of the home of Purbeck District Council. William Joseph lived in North Street Wareham. William Joseph's 7-year-old son was drowned in

Studland Bay Studland is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, England. The village is located about north of the town of Swanage, over a steep chalk ridge, and south of the South East Dorset conurbation at Sandbanks, from which it i ...

and is buried alongside his father. John and William Joseph's clay merchant father - William lived nearby at Bucknowle House and it was here that the Pike Brothers were born. William Pike's father-in-law was Jacob Warburton who founded the New Hall Pottery in Staffordshire and also leased Bucknowle Farm when he retired to be close to his daughters, Ann and Catherine. Catherine had married local land owner William Voss. Warburton Pike was born at Church Knowle and was another son of William Pike. He was educated at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

and went on to the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

where he was certified as a

Special Pleader A special pleader was a historical legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case. History Up to the 19th century, there were many rules, tech ...

. In 1879 Pike published "Translations from Dante, Petrarch, Michael Angelo and Vittoria Colonna" and went on to be the first person to translate

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: ' ...

's " Inferno" into English in 1881. Although he died in Highgate, he is buried alongside his family in St. Peter's graveyard.

1945 Air Disaster

On 15 June 1945 a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

, Consolidated Liberator C Mk IX (JT985) crashed in the village of Kingston near Church Knowle while on a flight from

RAF Holmsley South Royal Air Force Holmsley South or more simply RAF Holmsley South is a former Royal Air Force station in Hampshire, England. The airfield is located approximately northeast of Christchurch, Dorset; about southwest of London Opened in 1942, ...

to Palam, Delhi

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

via

RAF Castel Benito Castel Benito (called originally in Italian "Tripoli-Castel Benito Airport") was an airport of Tripoli created by the Italians in Italian Libya. Originally, it was a small military airport, but it was enlarged in the late 1930s and was late ...

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. The aircraft had low fuel pressure and attempted to return to RAF Holmsley in bad weather. All 27 onboard the aircraft died in the crash.

References

External links

Purbeck Mineral and Mining Museum
Civil parishes in Dorset Isle of Purbeck Villages in Dorset Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England 1945 disasters in the United Kingdom {{Dorset-geo-stub