Everyone: Sorry my long message was not clear enough, the trouble with saying too much. We have been discussing two different places in England. Part 1: Knowlton, Dorset Knowlton Henge or Circles is in Dorset in southwest England. The website about Knowlton Henge is pretty thorough so I will say no more about it. It is clear that many of the Knowltons still living in England have Dorset roots if you type Knowlton into the 1881 English census site [LDS]. Part 2: Knowlton, Kent. The History by Stocking suggests that the Ipswich, MA, USA, Knowltons came from Kent; certainly the Knowlton minister/ and gardener line that is followed in the front of the volume does come from Kent. Also, immigrants to the New England area in the 1600s TENDED to come from southeast England where Kent is located. We do not know we came from Kent. It is an educated guess. The village of Knowlton, Kent, no longer exists. Since the name means town on or by a little knoll or hill, we can assume that the village was named for its location. If you consult a book on English surnames, you will see there are four main sources for our names: location, first name, occupation, and nickname. Examples are Knowlton, Johnson, Smith, and Follett [little fool]. The manor house, never occupied by Knowltons, would have drawn its name from the village also. I got 22,000 hits by typing in Knowlton Kent at google. http://www.accomodata.co.uk/061297.htm is just the first. There is a small picture of the house. This is a commercial site for renting out parts of the manor. So you could go and stay at Knowlton Court, as they are calling it. But that does not alter the fact that our blood line did not own the court, an Elizabethan manor house. We are making ourselves ridiculous, frankly, plastering the web with such assertions. Note that the prices are in POUNDS. Elizabeth W. Knowlton Message text written by INTERNET:KNOWLTON-L@rootsweb.com >Well, I just "visited" the site. It lies in the parish of Woodlands and is in ruin from the 12-16th centuries. It is known as Knowlton Henge although henge, they say, is not the proper term. They have also been called the Knowlton Circles. If you have Sherlock it is easy to find just type in Knowlton Manor and the archaeological site will be referenced. I am not saying that any Knowltons once lived there because it isn't stated- in fact they aren't sure what it was. But, theoretically, even if it was a Knowlton Castle, after 8-900 years and lots of relatives later one can only imagine that not much would be left of it. I haven't been aware of the manor Elizabeth speaks of, where is it if Knowlton (the village) doesn't exist? Thanks for letting me know about the meaning of the name "Knowlton".-Thanks, Dana<