St. Mary's Church is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church in

East Knoyle East Knoyle is a village and civil parish in Wiltshire, in the south-west of England, just west of the A350 and about south of Warminster and north of Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was the birthplace of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. The paris ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

The

Parish Church of St Mary was begun before the 1066 conquest. Pevsner described its chancel as "Norman in its bones" and wrote that its 17th-century plaster decoration, a "surprise and delight", "ought to be the purpose of a visit from every Wiltshire tourist". The church was extended in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries, with a large tower added in the 15th. Plasterwork in the chancel depicting biblical scenes was designed in about 1639 by Dean Christopher Wren. Five of the six bells are from the 18th century. The building was further extended in the 19th century, along with restoration in 1845 by Wyatt and Brandon, and interior alterations in 1875-6 by

Sir Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

. The church was declared

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1966. Since 2008, the ecclesiastical parish forms part of the benefice of St Bartholomew, a group of six parishes. St Mary's had a

chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status A chapelry had a similar status to a Township (England), township, but was so named as it had a chapel of ease ...

at Hindon from the 13th century. Hindon became a separate vicarage in 1869.

Notable rectors

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...

(1589–1658) was rector of East Knoyle from 1623. He married Mary Cox, daughter of Richard Cox of

Fonthill Bishop Fonthill Bishop is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, to the north of the Nadder valley and south of Warminster. The Fonthill Park estate extends into the south of the parish. Landscaping which included the creation of F ...

. Their children were all born at the parsonage house, including in 1632

Christopher Christopher is the English language, English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek language, Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or ''Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Jesus ...

, who would become a prominent architect. After Christopher senior was appointed

Dean of Windsor The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the Canon (priest), canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, England. The dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as ''primus inter pares''. The post of Dean of Wolverhampton was assimilat ...

in 1635, the family spent part of each year there. Kerry Downes: "Wren, Sir Christopher", in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford, 2004). Retrieved 10 March 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:East Knoyle, Saint Mary Norman architecture in England Church of England church buildings in Wiltshire Grade I listed churches in Wiltshire