Description
Poncknowle or Pucknoll, a village and a parish in Dorsetshire. The village stands 1 1/2 mile from the coast, 3 1/4 miles from Abbotsbury station on the G.W.R., and 5 1/4 SE by E of Bridport, and has a post office under Dorchester; money order and telegraph office, Abbotsbury. The parish extends to the coast, and comprises 1974 acres; population, 427. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Salisbury; net value, £165 with residence. The church is good, and has a tower and spire. A N aisle was added in 1891. There is a Wesleyan chapel.
Parish Church
The church of St. Mary is a small edifice of stone, in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a low tower with a dwarf conical spire containing 3 bells: the font is a double one, probably Norman, the lower half having been saved from Bexington church, which was burnt by the French during the 16th century: over the tower arch towards the nave is the date 1678, and the initials "R. M. N.": on the north wall is a mural monument of freestone, with two columns supporting a pediment bearing the arms of Napper; this monument was erected by Sir Robert Napper, knight and baronet, in memory of his father, Robert Napper or Napier, d. 1686, his mother Anna (Corrance), and his mother-in-law, Katherine (Evelyn), d. 1691: the helmet and gauntlets of a knight of the Napper family stiull hang in the church over the south door: in 1891 the north aisle was added, and there are now 150 sittings.
The register dates from the year 1630.
