| Static Image Name: | West Knighton, Church Cottage - geograph.org.uk - 532876.jpg |
| Static Image Caption: | West Knighton |
| Country: | England |
| Official Name: | West Knighton |
| Coordinates: | 50.6878°N -2.3803°W |
| Map Type: | Dorset |
| Population: | 375 |
| Population Ref: | [1] |
| Unitary England: | Dorset |
| Shire County: | Dorset |
| Region: | South West England |
| Post Town: | Dorchester |
| Postcode Area: | DT |
| Postcode District: | DT2 |
| Constituency Westminster: | West Dorset |
| Os Grid Reference: | SY733875 |
West Knighton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated 3miles southeast of the county town Dorchester. It has an 11th-century church and a village pub. In the 2011 census the civil parish had a population of 375.[1]
The village name derives from the Old English cniht and tūn, meaning the village or farmstead of the young men or retainers.[2] At Little Mayne Farm 0.5miles southwest of the village is the site of a deserted medieval village, which was recorded in the Domesday Book as Maine[3] and in 1201 was known as Parva Maene.[4]
West Knighton parish historically developed out of the amalgamation of four medieval settlements within the ancient hundred of Cullifordtree:[5] the existing main village, the previously mentioned Parva Maene, another medieval settlement at Friarmayne to the south—also deserted and now within neighbouring Broadmayne civil parish[6] —and the fourth at Lewell to the north (now just a farmhouse).[7]