Here's how to pronounce the tricky name of a west Dorset village
The village of Puncknowle may be tiny but it boasts a name, history and a pub that give it an intriguing story.
Puncknowle can be found off the lonely coast road between Weymouth and Bridport by turning off at Swyre and by penetrating inland.
This hidden village can be reached by other routes, but none is more picturesque than the coast road, from which it is possible to see the whole of the shore from Portland to beyond Lyme Regis.
Puncknowle Church, with its quaint surroundings and the dignified manor house nearby, are very impressive, while the Crown Inn, a thatched village pub, offers a warm welcome.
Yet for all the peace and quiet of Puncknowle, one thing continues to trip visitors up: how on earth do you pronounce it?
So how do you say Puncknowle?
A reader once wrote to us: "An old lady, who was well acquainted with the district, told me that it should be pronounced 'Punnel', or something to that effect."
The reader was absolutely right.
It is pronounced 'Punnle'.
What is Puncknowle known for?
Puncknowle was once the home of Colonel Shrapnel, the inventor of the shell which bears his name.
"Hugh, the son of Gr.p" held Puncknowle in the time of the Domesday Book and later the village was held for some generations by the Nappers, or Napiers, family.
In some records Puncknowle is called Punchnowle, but the actual significance of this variation appears doubtful.
Many years ago Portland was regularly "invaded" by a considerable band of market gardeners, all of whom came from Puncknowle with an abundance of fruit and vegetables.
But now these market gardeners are no more.
There is a little mystery about the village of Puncknowle, which to the imaginative strongly suggests a link with those days when smugglers made night landings with their kegs and silk.
It is very possible that Swyre was a favourite landing place for the smugglers, while Puncknowle, a little inland, was ideal for concealment.
Towards the end of the 18th century a Puncknowle farm labourer in the course of his toil turned up a jar containing more than 1,000 coins.
No-one, as can well be imagined, discovered to whom the money belonged. It may have been the hoard of a miser, or the cache of a smuggler, or yet again money concealed by a wealthy resident of the village during troublesome times.
Inside the church are some interesting Napier monuments. Over the door hang the gauntlets and spurs of one of them.
The church is interesting, especially the diminutive Norman chancel arch, and the font. One inscription bears this good advice:
"Reader when as thou hast done all thou canst thou are but an unprofitable servant, Therefore this marble affords no roome for fulsome flattery or vaine praise."
Puncknowle Knoll on the hill above Swyre is a conspicuous landmark, and the intermittent spring at a farm near by is said to be regulated by the tides.
Read more
Village manor house among 'the daintiest in Dorset'
The village with a long-gone boarding school and manor house
The village with manor house and former medieval deer park
The manor house is among the gardens behind the church. The peace and charm of its surroundings cannot but appeal to the imagination of any lover of the country.
Of this place Sir Frederick Treves says: "This ancient homestead is far away from beaten tracks, but any who fol-low the coast road should turn aside to see it, so as to learn what an English home was like before the days when the small house mimicked the mansion, and when the flaunting villa was not."
