West Knighton, Dorset
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox UK place
West Knighton is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England, situated Template:Convert 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.<ref name="ons"/>
The village name derives from the Old English cniht and tūn, meaning the village or farmstead of the young men or retainers.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> At Little Mayne Farm Template:Convert southwest of the village is the site of a deserted medieval village, which was recorded in the Domesday Book as Maine<ref>http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SY7286/mayne/ Open Domesday: Mayne</ref> and in 1201 was known as Parva Maene.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
West Knighton parish historically developed out of the amalgamation of four medieval settlements within the ancient hundred of Cullifordtree:<ref>[1] Open Domesday: Cullifordtree</ref> 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<ref>Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 map</ref>—and the fourth at Lewell to the north (now just a farmhouse).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>