More information : (16) SETTLEMENT REMAINS of the former village of Knowlton
lie on the S.E. bank of the R. Allen, 600 yds. N.W. of Knowlton
church. Although Chenoltune is mentioned twice in Domesday the
recorded population of 1086 cannot be assessed; one entry (V.C.H.,
Dorset iii, 65) includes other manors; the other (ibid., 86) records
2 men. The Lay Subsidy Roll of 1333 lists 31 taxpayers, but the
figure includes Woodlands and other settelements and cannot be taken
as evidence of population in Knowlton alone. The construction of a
chapel and a tower at the church (1) in the 15th century implies
a substantial population.
The remains have been much damaged by drainage and quarrying, but
recognizable earthworks still cover about 10 acres (plan, opposite).
On the W. of the road to Brockington at least eleven large roughly
rectangular closes, bounded by low banks and scarps, lie between the
R. Allen and a steep river-cliff. Several possible building sites
occur, most of them rectangular platforms. Disturbed areas at the
lowest (N.W.) ends of most closes yield black soil, flint rubble,
Heathstone fragments and 12th to 17th-century pottery. Other closes
and rectangular platforms occur N.E. of the road to Brockington;
they are cut by a later aqueduct, now disused. (1)
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